My Saving Grace
by Lady RavenEyes
Summary: Victrilla has her hair and his eyes, so forgetting her heritage isn't that easy, especially with Voldemort rising to power once more. But as long as George is with her, along with Lee and Fred, everything will be fine. We hope. GeorgeOC
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer –** None of this is mine. Except for Victrilla.

**I've been thinking about this story for a while and its actually been why all my other stories have been so delayed in coming out lately. I felt it was the only way to ease my mind. Anyway, this story is about Victrilla Black, daughter of Voldemort and Bellatrix. I know that this has been done before but it has an original twist. I swear.**

**The first few chapters will just touch upon some important things that happen in Victrilla's first few years at Hogwarts before getting into the real story which begins during Trilla's 6th year (Harry's 5th). But important things are revealed in these chapters too so don't just skip over them.**

**So read and enjoy. Questions, comments, concerns, just send me a review.**

* * *

**_My Saving Grace_**

**Chapter 1:**

**His Daughter**

Victrilla wrapped her tiny hands around the bars of her crib and pulled herself into a kneeling position. The nursery was dark, as it always was, despite the child's feeble protests. Her infant cousin lay asleep in a basinet across the room blissfully unaware of the shadows that the tree outside cast on the opposite wall. Yet it was not the frightening shadows Victrilla was looking at. It was the door. There were things more horrible than shadows and ghosts that came in the middle of the night.

Two silhouettes stood in the doorway for a moment before entering the room. Victrilla lay down again, pretending to be asleep. But the motion did not go unnoticed by her mother.

"Trilla, darling, why are you still awake?" What little light had come in through the open doorway was blocked as Victrilla was picked up by her mother. Black hair tickled Trilla's nose and she let out a small sneeze. "We're you looking out for your cousin?"

"Bella, shhh. You'll wake Draco." Aunt Narcissa looked lovingly down on her child. A third person strode into the room and motioned for Narcissa to leave and she did so.

"May I hold my child, Bella?" Victrilla picked her head up off of her mothers shoulder and looked into the cold, red eyes of the man that was her father.

"Why of course, my Lord." Bellatrix handed Victrilla to her father. Trilla tensed her muscles as she looked into the face that had no nose and eyes slit like those of a snake - the face that terrified her, yet was all too familiar.

"Down now?" Trilla had learned from a very young age that crying would not get her anything she wanted from her father. Only her mother seemed to have a little of that nurturing instinct which Aunt Narcissa showed Draco. Voldemort turned up the corners of his mouth into what was supposed to be something like a smile.

"So young and she already knows exactly what she wants." Voldemort placed Trilla back into her crib. The couple turned and walked towards the door. "She will be powerful Bella, I can sense it." The door closed behind them casting the room once more into the darkness that Trilla so hated. A tear leaked out onto her pajamas as she looked longingly at the candle that had been extinguished long ago.

Suddenly it burst into flame.

Not sure of what happened, but thoroughly pleased with herself, Trilla pulled her small blanket around her and fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

_**(10 years later)**_

"I want to go too!" A little boy with blonde hair stamped his foot for emphasis.

"Now, Draco, we already talked about this. You will go to Hogwarts next year."

"Bu..."

"No buts." Aunt Narcissa cut him off. She looked back to Victrilla and handed her a small key. "Victrilla, this is a copy of the key to your mothers vault at Gringott's. I felt you should have it, just in case." Trilla nodded. Uncle Lucius never would have done that for her. Perhaps Aunt Narcissa cared for her a little more than she let on. "Now remember your, last name…"

"Is Black. I know." Trilla finished the sentence for her.

"Right. Your mother's last name won't make you the most poplar person outside of the Slytherin Common Room." Narcissa bent down and kissed the top on Trilla's head. Trilla turned to Draco to say good bye, though it was good riddance Trill was thinking. But Draco merely glared at her, a look which Trilla returned, all thoughts of a good bye gone, before walking away without a second look to go find a cabin on the Hogwarts Express.

Victrilla felt relief like she never felt before knowing that she wouldn't be living with the Malfoy's anymore. Well, not until Christmas at least. But even that four months would feel like heaven. She knew it already.

"Hey, can we sit here?"

Trilla looked away from the platform where mothers and fathers stood waving goodbye to their children and saw two boys standing in the doorway of the compartment she had entered only a minute or so before. Both had identical red hair and freckles.

"Sure," Trilla said, watching them.

"I'm George Weasley by the way."

"And I'm Fred."

"We're twins."

"Obviously. I'm Victrilla Black, by the way." Fred and George looked at each other.

"You know, Fred, I think I like this one."

"Me too, George." He nodded in agreement. The twins hoisted their luggage onto the compartment overhead. George took the seat next to Trilla and Fred the one across from her.

"So, you're a first year." Fred said. It was more of a statement than a question.

"How did you know?"

"We're second years. Never saw you before. Which house do you want to be in?"

"Well, my family wants me to be in Slytherin. But I hate them. I don't want to be anything like that." Trilla looked out the window again, hoping that they would just leave her alone. Fred and George were seemed very nice, but Trilla had the feeling that she would need to explain her whole life story before they would stop questioning her.

"Yeah well Slytherin's have that effect on people. What house do **you** want to be in?" George asked. She turned to him, surprised. People usually thought that Victrilla would automatically want to be a Slytherin and grow up in her parent's footsteps and disregarded her when she told them otherwise. But these young wizards didn't know her past. In fact, they barely knew her at all. Yet they cared. They cared about what she had to say, and what her opinion was. She could see that in George's eyes. That was something she had not seen in a long time.

"Actually," Trilla said hesitantly, "I always liked Dumbledore. I kind of want to be in Gryffindor."

The grins on Fred and George's faces told her that she had made the right decision.

"Brilliant! We're in Gryffindor, too."

"I don't know if I'll get in though…" Trilla looked at her feet.

"Don't worry. The hat always puts you where you want to go if you ask it." Trilla looked up at George hopefully, not quite daring to believe what he told her was true. "At least that's what Charlie told me."

The castle was a little chilly, but in another sense, it was warm and inviting. The shadows that danced on the walls were not the kinds that were at the Malfoy Manner which so painfully reminded Trilla of her childhood. The Great Hall was magnificent. The ceiling was enchanted to look like the night sky. Trilla thought that it was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen.

"When I call your name," the severe looking witch in front of the first years said, "you will step forward and sit on the stool. I will then place the Sorting Hat on your head and you will go and sit with your respective houses." She looked down at a list in her hand and Trilla realized with a jolt that the names were probably in alphabetical order. That would mean…

"Black, Victrilla."

Victrilla walked forward and McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on her head.

"Hmmm, interesting. Very interesting. Your smart, might do well in Ravenclaw. But you have the blood of Salazar Slytherin in you. Gryffindor would also suit you. Where to put you…"

"Not Slytherin. Please not Slytherin. I don't want to be like my father." Trilla prayed that the hat would hear her thoughts and acknowledge them.

"Well, if that is what you wish. GRYFFINDOR!"

The great hall clapped as Trilla made her way to Fred and George.

"Brilliant!" Fred said clapping her on the back.

"Knew you'd do it," George said.

"I wasn't so sure." Trilla turned back to the Sorting Ceremony, not really paying attention to what was going on. She was thinking about what the hat had told her. She was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin. Yet she was put into Gryffindor anyway.


	2. George Weasley

**Disclaimer - **Nothing is mine except Victrilla.

Hello again, readers. Sorry this took so long at posting. This chapter begins in Victrilla's second year of Hogwarts. I was originally going to make this longer and include all of her second year, but i felt bad about leaving everyone in suspence for so long. So the rest of Trilla's second year will be posted later on this week or the beginning of next, depends how fast I can type.

So read and enjoy. And don't forget to review.

* * *

**_My Saving Grace_**

**Chapter 2: **

**George Weasley**

"Bloody Hell!" Lee Jordan yelled so loudly that several other people at the table turned around to see what was going on. However, Lee was too busy looking inside an empty cardboard box with air holes cut in it as if something would magically appear inside it if he stared at it long enough – which was possible considering that they were sitting in the Great Hall at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"What happened?" Fred asked, eyes growing wide.

"He lost the spider." Trilla put her face in her hands. "Lee," she said looking over at him, "Do you know how many people are going to wake up having panic attacks when they see that thing hovering over their beds. It was nearly two feet long!"

"That's not the worst of it." George said. "We had big plans for that spider, mate."

"Like what," Trilla asked, narrowing her eyes.

Fred leaned over the table conspiratorially. "Did you know that Snape is afraid of spiders?"

"No," Trilla tried her best not to laugh. That would only egg them on more, and the last thing that Fred and George needed was to be egged on and get carried away.

"Neither did we till last year," George said. Lee laughed. He was obviously in on the joke too.

"And you didn't include me on this because?" Trilla looked from one Weasley to the other. They glanced at each other before answering.

"Well, we knew you wouldn't like the idea," George said.

"And didn't want you to get in trouble in case 'ole Greasy decided to tell the Malfoy's." Fred finished. "In case we got caught, you know."

That was probably for the best. The Malfoy's had not been that pleased with Trilla when they found out she was in Gryffindor. Before Trilla could think of a reply the doors opened and McGonagall entered with a sea of tiny first years behind her. Some looked up at the ceiling in awe. Others scanned the tables for siblings and cousins. But when they saw McGonagall pull out the list of names every single one visibly paled.

Trilla clapped for everyone who got into Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. The Gryffindors she clapped for loudest of all. She even gave the Slytherins a light clap or two. Hey, they might not all turn out bad. You never know.

But that though vanished as McGonagall called "Malfoy, Draco." The blue eyed, blonde haired little weasel who Trilla hated to call cousin sat on the stool and looked out at the tabled with a cool indifference only a Malfoy could have mastered. Before the hat was even fully atop his head it yelled "SLYTHERIN!"

The Slytherins clapped and cheered. They all knew the name of Malfoy. He would be considered a god before he even talked most likely. At least among the other first years. Malfoy might not be able to get away with anything with the older students. Trilla tried not to laugh as she imagined the first time Malfoy met Percy Weasley. That might not end so well.

"Potter, Harry."

A silence like Trilla had never heard fell over the Great Hall. All eyes were upon the 11 year old with messy black hair who was making his way to McGonagall. The hat seemed to take an awfully long time in deciding upon where to put him, but maybe it was just the silence, or the expectation, or a combination of both which made it feel that way. Trilla found herself praying with the rest of the Great Hall that Harry Potter would be put in her house. But not for the same reasons.

Trilla didn't want it for bragging rights or that she might get a chance to date the famous Harry Potter. She hoped that Harry was what the books said he was. The boy who defeated the man that she most feared and hated. Voldemort. The man that was her father. If a man you could truly call him. Red eyes still haunted her in her sleep. Still the hissing of his voice filled her eyes as she dreamed.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindors stood and cheered as Harry made his way over to their table. He sat next to George trying to make himself as small as possible. The craning necks and thunderous applause obviously unsettled the boy. And Trilla didn't blame him. If she had been him and lived with Muggles she wouldn't have liked that one bit.

Fred and George shook hands with Harry and welcomed him to Gryffindor and stopped shouts "We got Potter!" It was then that Victrilla remembered that they met him on the train.

"If Ron doesn't get into Gryffindor Percy will never let him hear the end of it." Fred said.

"Oh don't worry, he will." Trilla said with confidence.

"How are you sure?" Harry asked, watching the Sorting Ceremony.

"Are you kidding? With those two as brothers he's got to have a lot of bravery just to eat dinner every night." Hermione – at least that's what Victrilla thought she had called herself – rolled her eyes.

"Trilla, even we have our limitations." George said, draping an arm around her shoulders.

"We would never do anything to food." Fred said taken aback.

"That's just because you two eat like pigs," Trilla said as she looked at George.

"We're not pigs." He said, pulling his arm back.

"What are you then?" Trilla said, smiling. This flirtation with George had been going on since … well since the two met last year on the train really.

"Ron! Knew you'd make it, mate!"

George and Trilla looked away from each other reluctantly and saw Fred clapping Ron on the back and Percy shaking his hand. The two had been so wrapped up in their flirting that they didn't even notice Ron being Sorted. George joined the others in congratulating him. Ron sat down next to Harry.

"When I find that Seamus kid I'm going to kill him." Trilla shivered involuntarily.

"Why?" Lee asked, craning his neck in an attempt to find his giant spider.

"I didn't want to see what the inside of Nearly Headless Nick's neck looked like. I was perfectly happy without that." The other three laughed. "You laugh now, but don't come crying to me when you start getting nightmares about it."

"Did you see that?" Lee said, trying to push his way through a group of Hufflepuff fourth years.

"What?" Fred asked, as the other three tried to follow him.

"I think it was the spider. Come on!" Lee took off down a corridor with Fred right behind him. Trilla and George got stuck amid a gaggle of Ravenclaw fifth year girls. By the time they pushed their way through, Fred and Lee were gone.

"Lets just go back to the Common Room." George said, walking towards the moving stairs.

"Shouldn't we follow them? Their going to get themselves in trouble with that hairy legged monster." George shrugged.

"They can manage. It's not like we haven't dealt with this sort of thing before."

"Huh?" Trilla stopped, confused.

"It's better that you don't know." Trilla just rolled her eyes.

The twins and Lee were always off pulling some prank or another. Sometimes Trilla was included, sometimes not. Which was just fine with her. Trilla didn't really want to be getting as many detentions as they did on a weekly basis. From time to time she would go with them on their adventures, but mostly she was the voice of reason behind their pranks. Such as last year when they wanted to let one of those thestral things loose in the castle. It was only when Victrilla asked them how the exactly planned on catching one that they gave up with the idea.

"So how was your holiday?" George asked, breaking the pleasant silence that had fallen between the two.

"My uncle wasn't very happy when he heard that I was in Gryffindor." Trilla said quietly. "Capit Draconis" (I don't know how to spell that so I guessed) George put a hand on her shoulder, making her stop in front of the open portrait hole and turn to look at him.

"They didn't hurt you at all did they?" Trilla smiled softly at him.

"Of course not. The Malfoy's may be Dark Wizards, but they would not try to hurt me. Their too afraid of what my parents might do to them if they did." Trilla turned away from George and climbed through the portrait hole. George followed and the two sat on one of the plushy couches over by the fire.

"I've never heard you mention your parents before." George said quietly. Trilla looked down at her hands.

"I know," she whispered.

"Are they alive?" George asked. Trilla sighed and looked up at him.

"I'm not sure." George put a hand over one of Trilla's.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Trilla shook her head.

"I'm not ready to do that yet, George." She said, looking George directly in the eye.

"When you are, I'm here for you, Trilla. You know that. Right?" George asked Trilla. This was the most serious that Trilla had ever seen George. But she wasn't thinking of that at the moment. All she could think about was the soft hand over hers and how brown George's eyes were. They were closer that Trilla had first realized. But all they did was stare at each other unblinking. "Trilla?" George asked, not breaking eye contact.

"Oi! George!"

Trilla looked away, towards the portrait hole where Fred and Lee were running in, spiderless. George took away his hand. Whatever he was going to ask Victrilla was lost as Fred and Lee came to stop in front of them panting.

"Mate, we have a great idea," Lee said, pulling George to his feet.

George looked back at Trilla apologetically as Fred and Lee dragged him towards the staircase that led to the boys dormitories.

'Sorry' he mouthed to her.

Trilla smiled. 'It's ok,' she mouthed back.

The black haired girl watched George until he disappeared from view and sighed. Why did their conversations always seem to end like that?


	3. Of Bonnets and Shining Armor

**Disclaimer - **Everything is JKRowlings, except Victrilla.

Here is Chapter 3. Hope you like it. Remember to review. I wasn't quite sure about how the discussion between Trilla and George turned out at the end of the chapter. Tell me what you think. Chapter 4 my be a bit longer in coming out. I need to look up some facts in the second book, but I can't find it. I should have it out by this time next week, though.

* * *

**_My Saving Grace_**

**Chapter 3:**

**Of Bonnets and Shining Armor**

The owl swooped out of the rafters of the ceiling and landed gracefully in front of Trilla, a letter in its beak. Actually, it was more of a hawk than an owl. It didn't like to be pet and would bite you at a moments notice. Trilla shooed it away and watched as it took off and landed in front of Draco who let it steal some of his bacon. Only he could find affection for something just as cold hearted as himself.

The envelope read 'To Miss Victrilla Black' on the front of it in Lucius Malfoy's curly script. Trilla groaned. This means that she would actually write them a letter back. At least the letter wasn't to long.

Victrilla,

Draco has told me that you have taken to consorting with Potter and his friends and I am concerned to hear this. Also, you have not taken my advice. Break off contact with those Weasley boys. Both your Aunt and I are extremely disappointed in you. Considering that the reason you had to live with us growing up is because of Potter, we strongly urge you to reconsider your decision to befriend him.

Yours,

Lucius Malfoy

"Who's that from, Trilla?" Hermione asked and she, Ron, and Harry sat down next to her.

"My dear old uncle." Trilla replied as she crumpled the paper and threw it into the pumpkin juice where it floated for a second before sinking to the bottom of the glass.

"Your Uncle? Who's that?" Harry asked.

"Lucius Malfoy." Trilla replied coldly.

"Why would he be writing to you anyways?" Ron asked. "Doesn't he hate Gryffindors?"

"Of course he does. But I live with the Malfoys since my parents can't take care of me. The only reason I'm even going to write back is so he won't keep hounding me about this." Trilla reached into her bag and got out a piece of parchment and a quill.

"'Bout what?" Ron asked through a mouth full of pancakes.

"The stupid git told me not to be friends with Harry." Harry seemed to shrink a little at this so Trilla continued. "It's not like I'm about to start listening to him, Harry. I've been ignoring him for years." Trill started writing.

Dear Uncle Lucius,

Thank you for your concern, but I know what I am doing thank you. Also, seeing as I have never met my father, your ploy to get me to feel bad about befriending Harry Potter did not work.

Things are well here. Draco has made friends quickly at Hogwarts, though that isn't very surprising.

Hope things are going well at the Manor. Give my regards to Aunt Narcissa.

Victrilla Black

Trilla folded the letter and stuffed it into an envelope. The owl was still hovering around Draco at the Slytherin table. Trilla walked over and reached around Draco for the owl, who simply stared at her before biting her finger. _Hard._

"Ouch," Trilla said, putting her bleeding finger in her mouth.

"I see that you got my father's letter, Victrilla." Draco said. His two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, laughed. Trilla looked at them and wondered, not for the first time, if Draco had knocked the brains out of their heads at some point in time and put rocks in there instead.

"You know Malfoy, I remember your mother telling you to not snitch on people when we were little." Trilla tried to give the owl the letter again but pulled her hand back as the owl lunged for it.

"Must not have sunken in then." Draco looked at Trilla fighting with the owl and took the letter from her. "Here." The owl stood calmly as Draco tied the letter to its leg. "Bring this to Dad," he told it. With that it unfurled its wings and took flight. It circled the tables once or twice before flying out the window. Draco looked at Trilla expectantly.

"Don't hold your breath waiting for a thank you, Draco." Trilla said. Draco smirked.

"I seem to remember my mother telling you to thank someone if they do you a favor when we were little, Victrilla."

"Sorry. Must not have sunken in then," Trilla called over her shoulder as she walked back to the Gryffindor Table where the other were waiting for her.

* * *

"I'm stuffed," Fred said. He sat back in his chair and belched.

"Me too, Fred," George said, pushing his plate back a little ways.

Instead of eating everything in sight like Fred, George, Lee, Ron, and Harry seemed to be doing, Trilla was hording the candy for later. Already she had a pretty good stash of it in her bag. And people had asked her why she brought it to the feast. She knew that Fred and George would be after it later.

Halloween.

Trilla had always found this holiday fascinating. When she was small, she had wanted to go trick or treating like all the Muggle children did. One year she almost did. Trilla had been trying to sneak off to Elladora's house so that the two of them could go trick or treating together. But, Aunt Narcissa caught Trilla with her hand in the jar of floo powder and forbade her to go anywhere since she had not asked permission.

Elladora was a very distant cousin of her mothers. How exactly, Trilla wasn't sure, but it was very distant. Elle's father was a Longbottom and her mother was a Black. She spent the holidays with the Malfoy's though, and – Trilla had no idea how – had managed to befriend Draco. So she would come over during the school year when they were little sometimes as well. The funny thing was, she acted more like the Longbottom side of her family than the Black, and tended to show more Gryffindor like qualities, much to the disappointment of her godfather, Professor Snape.

Just as Trilla was thinking that she should write Elladora, Professor Quirrell ran into the room and stopped in the center.

"Troll! In the dungeons! TROLL IN THE DUNGEONS! Though you ought to know." And with that he passed out, face down, probably from the prospect of seeing the troll than anything else. At least that's what all the student's thought.

The entire hall erupted into screams. As one, the students got up and made for the door.

"SILENCE!" As suddenly as the screaming and stampeding started it stopped. Everyone stood still and looked at Dumbledore who was standing behind the staff table at the front of the room. "Prefects will lead their houses to the dormitories. Teachers will meet downstairs in the dungeons." Dumbledore nodded and the students began to file out quietly this time.

Trilla glanced ahead to make sure that Percy was far enough in front of them as to not be overheard. "Hey," Trilla said, "You weren't the ones that let the troll in, were you?"

"Sadly, we were not." Fred said.

"But it's a great idea," George added.

"Yeah, I'd like to congratulate whoever did." Fred said, laughing.

"This isn't funny guys. What if someone gets hurt?" The three simply looked at Trilla with blank faces.

"Madam Pomfrey can heal anything." Lee said. Fred and George nodded. Trilla just threw her hands up and walked ahead of them.

"What?" George called after her. "She can!"

"Women," Fred said, shaking his head.

* * *

"I thought you were going home for Christmas, Ron." Hermione said as she walked up to the group. Harry was being badly beaten by Ron in wizard's chess. Trilla sat watching the two.

"Change of plans. My parents went to Romania to visit Charlie." Ron scratched his chin deep in thought. "Knight to D4." The knight began to move and then stabbed a pawn through the chest. The little pawn exploded on impact and Ron swept the pieces off the board without a second thought.

"That is totally barbaric," Hermione said, clearly disgusted.

"That's wizard's chess." Ron watched Harry as he contemplated his next move.

"Well, you can go look in the library for more information on Nicholas Flamel."

"You're not still on about that now, are you?" Trilla asked.

"Mione," Ron groaned, "we've already looked there at least a _hundred times_." Hermione leaned in closer to the group.

"Not in the restricted section." Harry and Ron's shoulders slumped at that prospect. It was sure capture by Filtch. Trilla laughed at the looks on their faces. "And you can help them." Hermione added. "Happy Christmas."

"Great," Trilla said. "Just great."

"You can't complain," Harry said as his bishop destroyed Ron's knight, "she hasn't been on you about this since the beginning of November."

"So." Trilla smiled as she saw that it was George who had sat down next to her. "What did you're aunt and uncle say when you told them that you were going to spend Christmas here?"

"It basically translated to something in between good riddance and thank god." Harry laughed at this, as he knew all too well what Trilla was talking about.

* * *

"OI!" Trilla rolled over and tried to ignore the yells that were coming from the bottom of the stairs to the girl's dormitories.

"TRILLA! WAKE UP!" Trilla just pulled the covers over her head farther.

_"ITS CHRISTMAS!" _

"Fine, I'm up" Trilla grabbed her robe and slippers. Fred and George were waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. "But I'm _not_ happy about it."

"Come, on Trilla, lets go open presents!" George said excitedly and ran down the stairs with Fred right behind him.

"Do you guys have any idea how early it is?" Trilla said, trailing behind them and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"About 5:30. Why?" Fred asked her. Trilla ignored him and sat down on the sofa in front of the fire. Fred and George were kneeling next to the Christmas Tree a few feet away looking at the labels on all the gifts.

"These are from Mum I think." George said, pulling out two lumpy packages.

"And there's one for Trilla, too." Fred added, throwing it towards her.

"Gah!" Trilla yelped. Her hand – eye coordination wasn't that great in the morning and the present from Mrs. Weasley hit her square in the face. Fred and George laughed. "Haha, very funny." Trilla ripped off the colorful paper and found a lumpy but warm sweater inside. It was the same color blue as her eyes and had a big V knitted on the front. Fred and George watched Trilla examine the sweater.

"It's not that great or anything. But they're really warm." George said.

"I love it," Trilla said, as she pulled the sweater over her head. "No ones ever made anything for me before." Fred and George looked at each other and smiled before pulling on their own sweaters.

Soon Trilla was sitting on the floor with the others, a small heap of presents in front of her. Besides the sweater, she got a pack of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans from Lee, a book of Useful, Everyday Jinxes (presumably to use on Draco) from Harry and Ron, a set of fancy quills and parchment from Hermione, a small makeup kit from Elladora, and some candy that made you grow fangs, claws, or wings depending on which one you ate from Fred. The Malfoy's sent her a beautiful green cloak. Everything that they had gotten her since her start at Hogwarts seemed to be green or silver. Apparently they were still trying to drive home the point that she was the hier of Slythering, or some such nonsence that she didn't want to hear. Trilla looked over at George expectantly waiting for his present.

'Later,' he mouthed at her.

'Ok,' she said silently.

"Well, I'm going to go make myself presentable." Trilla got up and walked back up to her room.

Trilla was beginning to like being the only girl in Gryffindor Tower. She could take the longest shower in the world and fuss over herself in the mirror for as long as she liked and no one was prodding her from behind, trying to get her to move faster. It would be too bad everyone would be back right after New Year's. This could definitely be gotten used to.

Harry and Ron were opening up their gifts by the time Victrilla had finished getting ready and had made her way down the stairs to the Common Room. Ron was dressed and wearing a sweater like hers and the twins. Harry too had one, but it was pulled over blue striped pajamas. At least there was one Weasley who let his friends sleep to a semi-descent hour in the morning.

"Come here and see what Harry got, Trilla," Ron called when he saw her coming down the stairs.

"Nice sweater," Harry said handing her the cloak.

"Dunno why mom always puts our initials on them. Its not like we're going to forget our names," said Ron.

"Yeah, we're not stupid," Fred said, walking down the stairs with George right behind him.

"We know we're called Gred and Forge," George said.

Trilla laughed and looked back at the cloak. At first she couldn't figure out what it was supposed to do. The cloak was made out of a silky material Trilla had never seen before. The boys watched Trilla as she put the cloak on and all but her head disappeared. "Nice cloak!" Trilla said, staring down at where her body should have been.

"Thanks."

* * *

All the teachers and students were sitting at one table, It turned out that besides Trilla, Harry, and the Weasley's, no one had stayed at Hogwarts. Trilla sat back and watched the others.

"No, Fred, I refuse to wear that thing." Percy tried to push away Fred who was holding just about the ugliest hat Trilla had ever seen.

"But, Percykins, it will go just perfectly with your hair." Fred made another lunge at him and missed. "Hold him down, will you, George?"

"No you don't," Percy threw himself off the bench as George tried to grab the back of his sweater. The twins looked at each other and grinned before getting up and chasing him around the table. The teachers all stopped talking and watched the scene unfold. "Trilla, call your boyfriend off!" Percy checked behind him and saw that Fred and George were gaining on him.

"Can't do that Percy," Trilla said, laughing along with the rest of the table.

"Why the bloody hell not?" Percy took another peek behind him and stopped abruptly and ducked. George was not expecting this and flipped over his back, landing with a thud.

"Because he's not my boyfriend."

"How did you learn to run so fast?" Percy was clutching a stitch in his side. They tied the bow under the lime green bonnet who ugliness was rivaled only by the pink bonnet Dumbledore had gotten from a cracker and was now sporting.

"Training with our good old friend Filtch," said Fred, sitting down again. Percy looked sideways at him from under the green bonnet.

"The midnight mile, you know," George winked.

"Boys," Professor McGonagall said, leaning down the table to look at them, "Don't give me any reason to give you a long overdue detention."

"Oh, Minerva, lighten up. I rather enjoy hearing about the Weasley's escapades. Besides, its Christmas." Dumbledore smiled as McGonagall rolled her eyes.

* * *

"Merry Christmas, Victrilla." George sat down next to Trilla in front of the Common Room fire and handed her a neatly wrapped package. Trilla took it and held it a moment before unwrapping it. Inside was a beautiful leather bound notebook. On the front was her name in gold letters – Victrilla Merope Black.

"George, its beautiful," Trilla said. The pages were soft and almost silky, not at all like normal parchment paper.

"It's a diary." George told her. "You needed to talk about things and if you can't talk with me at least you can write it all down."

"Thank you," Trilla said, setting the diary down in her lap.

"You're welcome." George smiled. "See you in the morning."

"See you." Trilla watched as George walked up to his dorm. It was the first Christmas that Trilla could remember that was truly happy. All of them had been filled with feasts and presents and decorations. Most had been disappointing and when Elladora was at Neville's, lonely. A few you could have called enjoyable, but this was the only one that was happy.

* * *

"Is he still unconscious?" Fred poked Harry's arm.

"Well, he's not exactly running around the castle, is he? Hermione set down a few chocolate frogs with the rest of the things people had sent Harry and threw away the empty cartons she had bought a few days earlier. "And, Ron, you will not eat these this time."

"Aw, 'Mione," Ron began, but he was cut off by Hermione.

"No, Ronald, these are for Harry."

"But he's not going to be eating much of anything for a while."

"Yes. And that's all thanks to You-Know-Who." Hermione shook her head. "Harry's gone through enough and deserves those chocolate frogs."

"Geez, Hermione, you make it sound like he's on his death bed," Fred said.

"Yeah, the bloke will wake up in a day or two, he's only unconscious," George added.

Hermione was glaring at Ron and didn't seem any happier with Fred and George. Trilla tried to smile at the argument, like she usually did. But she couldn't. The truth was eating away at her. He was back. Voldemort. The others didn't seem to grasp that fact. It was only Harry that might understand how she felt, because he past was wrapped up with Voldemort too, though in a very different way. She needed to think. To get away from everyone.

"Now look at what you did," Hermione said, pointing to the door closing behind Trilla.

"What did we say?" Fred asked looking at George.

"Dunno. I'll be back in a bit." George got up and walked out of the hospital wing without another word. 'where would she go?' George though for a minute before smiling to himself and setting off.

"Trilla?" George said tentatively. Trilla didn't answer. She rested her head on the window and let a few tears fall down her cheeks.

"I didn't want this to happen, George." She said quietly. George sat down next to her on the window seat in the library and looked out the window at the grounds below.

"Didn't want what to happen?" he prompted her.

"Voldemort. He's back." George reached up and stroked Trilla's hair, trying to comfort her.

"Not really. Dumbledore said You-Know-Who isn't really back yet. Harry took care of him for a while. He may not come back for years and years, or ever."

"Oh, he'll be back. He's to bent on it not to. And when he is back, he's going to come looking for me."

"Trilla, don't worry about any of that."

"You don't understand, George." Trilla looked up at him, her face streaked with tears. "Voldemort is my father. He'll want me on his side." She paused and waited for his reaction.

"Who in their right mind would have sex with _him_?"

"Right minds got nothing to do with it. My mother is Bellatrix Lestrange. She's_ insane_."

"Oh, well, that explains it then." George said, smiling. Trilla looked at him searchingly.

"So you don't hate me?" She asked quietly, her voice trembling against her will.

"Of course not! Why would I?" George looked at her questioningly.

"Because of who my parents are." Trilla said barely above a whisper. "Because of what blood flows through my veins. Because of what I may be capable of." Trilla was terrified at the prospect of what she may be able to do. She was a powerful witch, nearly all of her professors had told her that. The Malfoy's had told her that long ago, but she refused to believe it. Even Hermione had commented on her charm work.

"Trilla look at me," George put a hand under Trilla's chin and gently tilted her face up at him. "You are not like him. You never will be like him."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because you care. You-Know-Who didn't care about making other people suffer. You are one of the kindest people I've ever known. You have compassion for people, I've seen it in your eyes." Trilla just stared into George's eyes not daring to believe what he said was true. George had never seen this side of Victrilla before. She was usually cheerful and quick to laugh at his jokes. She was quiet, but not brooding or depressed. And she was always confident in herself. "You've made your choice not to be like him. And that makes all the difference in the world."

Trilla smiled at George, who still was holding her face in his hands. They sat their staring into each others eyes for a long time. Trilla's eyes flitted down to George's lips and when she looked up she saw that George was looking at her lips too. He brought his eyes up and they locked with hers once again. George leaned towards Trilla who leaned in herself.

"If you're not checking out books, kindly move along."

Just as their lips were barely touching, they pulled away from each other. Trilla got up and left. George apologized to Madam Pince and followed Trilla out of the library.

"Why does this always seem to happen to us?" Trilla asked George quietly.

"Dunno. Just lucky I guess." Trilla gave a small smile. "So no more tears? No more worries?"

"No," Trilla said, "I think I'm good for now."

"Good. I don't want to have to put a cheering charm on you. Come on, lets see if we can wreak some havoc on the Slytherins, that will make you feel better. Always does for me." Trilla rolled her eyes and laughed. George smiled down at her. Things seemed to be back to normal. At least, as normal as could be at Hogwarts.

"Think you could get away from the Malfoy's this summer for a while, Trilla?"

"Um. I suppose I could." Trilla said.

"Want to come to the Burrow then?" George asked Trilla.

"I'd love to." George had the widest grin that Trilla had ever seen. "But I don't really know if the Malfoy's will let me. Uncle Lucius and your father aren't really on speaking terms."

"I'll come to your window late one night and you can climb down a rope made out of bed sheets, jump on my broom, and I'll bring you to the Burrow, safe and sound."

"Trying to be my knight in shining armor, are you, George?" Trilla asked.

"If you'll let me," George said, suddenly looking very serious.

"As long as you don't get to be like Sir Cadogan. Besides, you've already come to my rescue once today, haven't you?" George smiled. "Just one thing," Trilla said.

"Anything," George replied.

"Don't come to my window on a broomstick. I don't like flying very much."

"I'll keep that in mind." Trilla and George smiled at each other.

* * *

"So are you dating him?" Hermione asked. They were sitting in Trilla's room on her bed. Both knew that they should have been packing. The trains were leaving tomorrow. But both were happy to have some girl time away from the boys and had decided to make full use of it by doing what girls tend to do best. Gossip.

"Its more like a promise to date him." Trilla told her. "He didn't really ask me out."

"Are you sure? Kind of sounded like that to me," Hermione looked at Trilla skeptically. "Maybe you should ask him."

"I already did actually."

"And?" Hermione prompted.

"He said that he had it all planned out." Trilla told her. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"That is so typical of him. Fred and George, forever the pranksters." She shook her head.

"Makes it more exciting though, doesn't it? I wonder what he's planning," Trilla trailed off, deep in thought.

"You've got it bad, Trilla," Hermione said.

"I know,"


	4. Fight!

Disclaimer - None of this is mine except for Trilla and Ella.

Here's Chapter 4. Sorry this took so long in coming out. I was going to post this last week but one of my friends went missing and I just didn't have the heart to write for a while. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Remember to review!

* * *

My Saving Grace

Chapter 4

Fight!

"Father, I'll be needing new robes this year," Draco said to his father who was a few paces in front of him.

"The uniforms at Hogwart's haven't changed since last year, Draco."

"Enough, Victrilla."

Draco smirked and looked sideways at Trilla, his blonde hair falling into one of his eyes. She pursed her lips in a very McGonagall like way. Madam Malkin's robes shop would be the third shop that the Malfoy's and Trilla would be visiting. And also the third place that Draco had suggested going to. Draco and Trilla were having the same silent competition that they had every year since Trilla turned seven.

"_We both know that Mum and Dad like me best."_

"_Don't be ridiculous, Draco. Parents don't have favorites and I'm as good as their daughter." Trilla tried to match the confidence in Draco's voice. She tried to act as sure of herself as he did. But a little voice in her head wouldn't stop saying 'You know he's right, Trilla. You've always known Draco was their favorite.'_

"_I bet I can get Mum and Dad to do what ever I want today." Draco was staring Trilla in the eye. He was expecting her to back down, but Trilla smiled. _

"_You're on." _

_Ten minutes later, the two children were standing in front of the fireplace. Aunt Narcissa held a jar of floo powder in her hands. Uncle Lucius was wearing a long black cloak and carried a black walking stick with a silver serpent head as the handle. "You both know how to use floo powder, children." Narcissa stepped forward and held the jar low enough for Trilla reach. "Victrilla, you're first."_

"_But I don't want to go to Diagon Alley. I want to go to the Zoo." Trilla pouted as best she could, trying to imitate Draco, though she never would have admitted that out loud. _

"_You don't want to go there, Trilla. All those Muggles and long lines. Diagon Alley is much better." Lucius put a hand on Draco's shoulder who caught Trilla's eye. 'I told you so,' he mouthed. _

_The floo powder was soft and sandy, trickling out from between Trilla's fingers as she stepped into the fire place. She didn't want to look up and see the smug look on Draco's face. She didn't want to admit to herself that she was second best in her Aunt and Uncle's eyes, even if she had suspected as much all of her life. The white shoes Trilla was wearing were turning black from the soot of the fire. _

_Trilla threw the floo powder to her feet and watched as the green flames leaped around her, consuming her, blocking her from view of the Malfoy's. She didn't want to go to Diagon Alley. She didn't want Draco to win, to get whatever he wanted even if Trilla could reap in the benefits too. Not on her birthday. A tear trickled from Trilla's eye, but she wiped it away quickly before anyone saw. _

"_Diagon Alley!" Trilla yelled, coughing from the soot. _

It still hurt Trilla when the Malfoy's did what ever Draco asked on Trilla's birthday even if it was stupid. She knew she shouldn't let it bother her. But it did.

Some thing caught the corner of her eye and Trilla turned around. Behind her was a see of red hair trying to push their way into the already overcrowded Flourish and Blotts. Harry and Ron were talking animatedly with Hermione. Percy and Mr. Weasley were carrying Ginny's things. And in the front of the group Fred and George were teasing their mother endlessly about something. Mrs. Weasley kept blushing and shaking her head before smacking Fred on the arm.

The door to Madam Malkin's closed with a tinkling of bells. The Malfoy's didn't seem to notice that Trilla was gone, and if they did, they didn't care. Instead of following her family inside, Trilla headed for Flourish and Blotts.

It was more crowded than Trilla had ever seen in there. People were overflowing into the Diagon Alley shoving each other to get in front of the line. A group of fifth year girls wearing skirts that were much too short were pointing at a poster of a man with blonde hair and extremely white teeth who was grinning and waving at the crowd. Above the photo were the words "Exclusive Book Signing with Gilderoy Lockhart!" "So are you going to stop and drool over him too?" Trilla turned away from the picture that had taken up winking at the group of girls and saw George Weasley standing a few feet in front of her, just having come out of the shop.

"No," she replied, brushing her long black hair out of her face, "I don't really drool. Besides, blonde's aren't really my type."

"And what are?" George asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Oh you know, tall red heads who like to pull pranks and whose name isn't Fred." Trilla took a few steps closer to him

"I was hoping you would say that." George reached out and slipped his hand into Trilla's. She smiled at him and together they walked around the crowd into Flourish and Blotts.

"Mione," Ron said to the bushy haired girl beside him, "You'd better go drag your parents away from my Dad. He's starting to question them about Muggle stuff again."

"Well, they seem to be enjoying themselves Ron so I don't think I will. They adults now, they can handle it themselves," Hermione said while flipping through one of Lockhart's books.

"Apparently you haven't met my mother yet, have you?" Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron and just went on reading her book.

"We haven't even seen each other for more than a day yet and already they're at each others throats." Harry said shaking his head.

"It's all out of love though," Fred said clapping Hermione on the shoulder.

"One day they will realize their mistakes and have lots of little bushy haired red heads who will be top of their class," George added.

"I am not having a tribe of Percy's!" Ron yelled at George indignantly.

"Ah, but you don't deny you and 'Mione here having feelings for each other I see."

"Oh, honestly, you two. How could I ever have feelings for someone as pig headed as Ron." Hermione turned on her heel and walked back to where Ginny was looking through books with her cauldron at her feet.

"And the Weasley's have made enemies out of friends already." Behind the group stood Draco, silhouetted against the open door. "But that isn't really surprising is it?" Hermione nudged Ginny, who put her books into her cauldron and came to stand with the rest of the Weasley's, Harry, and Trilla. "Clinging to the fame of Harry Potter to try to boost yourselves up? You're still stupid as ever."

"Wow, Draco, that sounds a lot like you." A short girl with long black hair walked up and said before putting her hands on her hips and staring down Draco.

"Who is that?" Fred asked Trilla.

"Elladora Longbottom." Draco said, narrowing her eyes at the girl.

"Distant cousin of my aunt's." Trilla said, watching Draco and Ella to make sure that they didn't try to attack each other. Those two had a love – hate relationship that could make the most level headed person in the world's head spin. "She's Neville's first cousin and Professor Snape's Goddaughter."

"Oh yeah, I've seen a picture of you on his desk," Percy said from behind Harry.

"Where'd you come from?" Ron asked, confused.

"Never mind that," Fred asked, "How'd you know Snape's got her picture?"

"As much as you think otherwise, I have gotten detention once or twice," Percy said irritably. He turned back to Snape. "I thought you must be his sister. You look like him a little bit."

"Hey, I wash my hair!" Ella said, breaking eye contact with Draco. She faced Percy with a shocked look on her face.

"Not that I'm not proud of you getting detention with Snape and all, Perce, but what exactly did you do?" George asked his older brother.

"Got caught out late with that Penelope Clearwater." Everyone laughed at Ron's juicy piece of news except Percy who turned a deep shade of scarlet and walked away.

"So are you going to move along now, Draco, or are you just going to stare at us?" Trilla asked Draco.

"I'm not quite finished here yet." Draco said.

"Really? Because we are," Ella said. Ginny smiled.

"I hope you're not being civil to these people, Draco." Trilla's blood began to boil as Lucius Malfoy stepped behind Draco and put a hand on his shoulder, the same sneer on his face.

"Don't worry, he's not," Trilla said, glaring at her uncle.

"Victrilla, I cannot believe you keep company with these sort of people," said Lucius, disappointment in his voice.

"Oh?" Trilla folded her arms across her chest and stepped closer to the Malfoy's. Everyone else was frozen, watching the scene unfold in front of them. "And what is wrong my friends, except that they are kind, smart, and actually know what the meanings of friendship and love are."

"Kid's it's a bit crowded in here. How about you head on outside?" Mr. Weasley said, coming up behind the group. However, his amiable manner changed when he saw Lucius Malfoy standing in front of him. "Malfoy," Mr. Weasley said icily.

"Arthur. Still as poor as ever I see." Mr. Weasley became very rigid. "Robes two sizes two small." Trilla felt George shift uncomfortably next to her. "Tattered, second hand books…" Lucius picked a book out of the cauldron Ginny was holding and shook his head sadly before putting it back. "Blank looks on all of their faces. Disgraces to the name of Wizard."

"You and I have very different theories as to what makes a wizard 'bad', Lucius."

"Yes indeed. You better make sure that those children of yours don't cross the line, Arthur."

"Insult and threaten me as much as you want, Lucius, but I will not have you attacking my children."

No one knew who launched at each other first or who threw the first punch, but in the matter of a few seconds Mr. Weasley and Lucius Malfoy were rolling on the ground, each one trying to get the upper hand. Mr. Weasley stood up, dragging Lucius with him. One hard punch from Mr. Weasley sent Lucius spinning into a bookcase which teetered precariously, sending books flying in all directions.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Ella started yelling. At the same time all the Weasley's, Harry, Hermione, and Trilla started shouting words of encouragement to Mr. Weasley. Everyone in Flourish and Blotts had stopped to see what was going on. Mrs. Weasley was frozen to the spot with a horrified look on her face. Mr. Granger seemed to think that it was great fun to watch while Mrs. Granger looked about nervously. There was only one person who seemed to think that stopping the fight would be a good idea.

"Silence!" Professor Snape walked up to the group and the children immediately quieted down, more from habit than anything else. Lucius and Mr. Weasley both had firm grips on one another's shirts with their free hands balled into fists, ready to throw the first punch. "Stop this immediately."

Mr. Weasley and Lucius slowly lowered their fists and let go of each others robes glaring at each other the entire time. Everyone held their breaths, waiting to see what would happen next.

"Come, Draco, Vitrilla." Lucius turned to walk out with Draco on his heels. Trilla, however, stood her ground.

"I'm staying." Lucius Malfoy spun on his heal.

"What did you say?" Lucius looked like he was ready to kill Victrilla for siding with the Weasley's. But Trilla held her ground. She knew that he wouldn't try anything, even if just for the reason that he was too afraid of what Voldemort would do to him, if and when he came back into power.

"I'm staying. George invited me to stay at the Burrow for the rest of the summer. I'm not going back with you." Lucius looked Trilla up and down.

"I'll send you your trunk. Don't expect to come back for Christmas."

"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on it." Without another word Lucius and Draco Malfoy walked out.

"Well, that went well." The awkward silence that had fallen was broken by Ella. "That wasn't exactly the best time to tell him that you were going to the Weasley's, Trill."

"Yeah, I thought you told him already. I asked you in June." George said.

"I was afraid that that was going to be Uncle Lucius' reaction and it was." Trilla looked around uncertainly.

"I've got to go guys," Ella said hurrying after Snape who had just finished paying for her things and was leaving the shop. "See you at school, Trilla!"

"See you," Trilla called after her. With that they all started after Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"First a house elf shows up in my bedroom, then my aunt and uncle put bars on my window, Ron, Fred and George come and rescue me in a flying car, and now Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy got into a fist fight. This should prove to be an interesting year." Harry said to no one in particular.

"When isn't it an interesting year at Hogwarts?" Fred said as he caught sight some new Quidditch gadget and ran off to look at it, George, Ron, Ginny and Harry close behind him. Hermione, Percy, and Trilla all looked at each other and shook their heads.


	5. The Burrow

**Disclaimer - **All credit goes to J K Rowling.

Here's Chapter 5. Enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 5:**

**The Burrow**

"Arthur Weasley, what in Merlin's name were you thinking back there!"

Trilla was the last one to climb out of the fireplace and into the kitchen of the Burrow. It was cluttered and small and absolutely perfect in Trilla's eyes. The Burrow was everything that a home should be and Malfoy Manner was not. Mrs. Weasley was standing before her husband who was seated at a long wooden table wagging her finger in front of his nose. Apparently she had saved her husband the public humiliation of being yelled at in Diagon Alley only to come down twice as hard on him at home.

"Come on, Trilla." George said from the stairs.

"Yeah, you don't want to be around when Mum lets Dad have it." Fred added. The stairs were the crookedest that Trilla had ever seen. She had to look down to keep from falling.

"You'll be staying in Ginny's room." Fred said, stopping in front of one of the many doors off the stairs.

"After you, Fred," George said, holding the door open and motioning inside with one arm.

"Why thank you, George," Fred said, entering the room.

"Not at all, Fred." Trilla laughed as George bowed Trilla inside as well. "Usually looks bigger than this, doesn't it?"

"That's because there's three of us in here instead of only me." Ginny and Hermione were sitting on the farthest bed that was pushed up against the wall, above which hung a poster of the Weird Sisters. Trilla supposed that was Ginny's bed. Two other beds were pushed in front of three large windows overlooking the backyard. "You can use me and Hermione's things till your trunk gets here."

"Thanks," Trilla said, sitting down next to Ginny.

"Um, not to spoil the party or anything, but that may not work out so well." Fred said looking at George.

"Why not?" Hermione asked. Trilla looked at Ginny who shrugged.

"You take this one, George."

"Well, Trilla, you're a bit bigger than the other girls," George said delicately.

"Are you calling me fat?" Trilla said, trying not to smile. She knew what George was going to say. She was taller than Hermione by about three inches and taller than Ginny by nearly five. It would be difficult finding girl clothes for her to fit into.

"No! What I meant was that, uh, you're a bit taller than Ginny and Hermione and, uh, might not fit into their clothes." Fred nodded encouragingly next to the uncomfortable George.

"Yeah, you're skinny as anything," said Fred, sad that he had brought up the topic, "Real beautiful."

George looked at him sideways.

"Oh, you know what I mean. I don't want her when I've got 'Mione."

"Excuse me?" Hermione said, bewildered.

"Well, you said that you didn't want Ron, so what about me?"

"Nah, mate, that won't do. We'll still end up with a bunch of Percy's."

"Only they'll be much better looking," said Fred, smoothing his hair.

"And with better senses of humor," George added. Percy walked past the open door, muttering to himself. "Speaking of the devil… Come on Fred."

"Right behind you, George." George ran after Percy, Fred following his brother close behind.

"What are those two up to?" Ginny asked. Trilla shrugged.

"Who knows?"

* * *

(George's POV)

"Oi! Percy!" George ran out of Ginny's room, happy for an excuse to get away from the girls. They were wonderful people, but he was starting to find out that all together they could be rather manipulative.

"What?" Percy said abruptly.

"Now is that any way to treat your dear younger brother who was only coming to you for some sound advice?" George put a hand to his chest in mock hurt.

"You need advice?" Percy asked, bewildered. George watched as Percy's expression changed from one of wariness to absolute delight. No doubt he thought that Fred and himself were trying to change their ways and get perfect scores on their O.W.L.s, like Percy somehow managed to achieve last year.

"Yeah, but not here. Come to our room." Fred and George each grabbed hold of one of Percy's arms and half dragged him to their bedroom. "Ok," Fred said, kicking a pile of dirty laundry off of his bed, "sit and explain."

Percy sat down gingerly, half afraid that something on the bed would explode, which, George thought, wasn't that bad of an idea. Just yesterday they had been experimenting with some powdered bicorn horn and discovered that even in a powdered state it still had the tendency to explode.

"Now, what do you need? I know that your potions work is absolutely dreadful, but that isn't my best subject either. Transfiguration? Your charms are well enough, all you need to do is pay attention during your tests," Percy rambled on.

"We, that is, George, doesn't need advice on school work," Fred said.

"Well, what is it then?" Percy said impatiently.

"Girls," George said matter of factly.

"Girls?" Percy repeated unsurely.

"Yup. Girls. You know, how do you ask one to date you properly."

"What do you get them for Christmas?" Fred chimed in.

"Or Valentine's Day?" George gulped.

"Why are you asking me this? Shouldn't you talk to Bill? He's dated many more girls than I have." Percy looked at the twins as if they had lost their minds, which George was starting to feel was the case.

"No, I mean, probably. But Bill isn't here. Besides, I want to ask Trilla out before we go back to Hogwarts."

"Two days, mate. That isn't a very long time." George looked over at his twin and nodded. Percy looked between the two.

"I don't care how much you and Lucius Malfoy detest each other. There will be no brawls! Out of my kitchen! Out! OUT!" Mrs. Weasley's voice shouted from the kitchen.

"I'll go save Dad." Fred got up and left the room. George looked back at Percy. He wasn't sure if his older brother was taking him seriously. He hadn't ever asked for Percy's help before and didn't know if he would believe him now.

"Percy, please. I don't know what to do." George looked at his older brother for help. Percy sighed.

"This about Victrilla?" George nodded. "Well it seems to me that you have her hooked pretty well already. Just ask her if she'll date you. It doesn't have to be fancy. You're not asking her to marry you."

"Yeah. But I wanted it to be special." George looked at his brother curiously. "How did you get Penelope Clearwater to date you?"

"Well, we were talking one day and I couldn't take just standing there smiling at her, pretending that I didn't have feelings for her any longer so I asked her to go to Hogsmead with me. When we got there I brought her to that little grove in the woods, you know, near the Shrieking Shack. It was very beautiful, snow was falling, the lighting was perfect, and I told her I loved her and than I wanted her to be my girlfriend."

"How'd it work?"

"Like a charm. She practically melted in my arms." Percy leaned over conspiratorially. "Not many people know this, but I can be quite the romantic." George nodded. Maybe there was more to Percy than meets the eye.

"Thanks, Perce," he said.

"Not a problem," Percy got up and hesitated in the door. "And George?"

"Yeah?"

"Why me?" George looked at the ground. He hated being all mushy with his siblings. Even he and Fred didn't really say that they loved each other or anything, though both knew that they would die for each other.

"Well, I may call you a prat, but your not that bad, Percy. I almost envy you sometimes. I can do all the spells alright but my mind blanks on tests." Percy watched George, who was trying to not meet his eye. "Fred and I are pretty much overlooked in the brains department both here and at school."

"You may put all you time and effort into new ways to not get caught by Filch, but your spell work is blood brilliant. And you're clever. I certainly couldn't have come up with a way to turn Dumbledore's beard purple without getting caught." Percy smiled and left.

George shook his head in shock. That had been the longest conversation that he had had with Percy in his entire life. They hadn't argued and George didn't even make fun of him. If anything they complimented each other.

Trelawney was right. The world as we know it really was coming to an end.

* * *

(Trilla's POV)

"Now, boys, I do not sound like that." Trilla laughed as Fred and George did another impression of Mrs. Weasley yelling at her husband.

"You must not have heard yourself yelling at us for all those years then." Fred said, doing an impeccable job of matching Mrs. Weasley's tone while yelling.

"Really, boy's that's enough now." Fred and George ceased their antics immediately at their father's bidding. "What are you lot doing after breakfast? It's the last day before term starts."

"Harry, Mione, Ginny, Trilla and I were going to have a chess tournament." Ron said, pancakes falling out of his mouth.

"Very attractive, Ron. That look suits you well." Fred told his younger brother. "Can I get in on that too?"

"Sure."

Trilla saw Percy elbow George under the table. George cleared his throat. "Trilla, want to go for a walk with me after breakfast?" George asked her.

"Of course," Trilla got up to put her empty plate in the sink. "Just let me get dressed first."

"How'd I do?" Trilla heard George whisper to Percy in what he thought was a low voice.

"Perfect," Percy said, much quieter than his brother. Trilla turned just in time to see Fred rolling his eyes at the two of them.

Pretending like she didn't hear anything, Trilla walked up the stairs into Ginny's room. Perhaps George was finally going to ask her out, like he promised. Trilla's heart skipped a beat. But before she could worry about that, she needed to find some clean clothes that she fit into. She had borrowed a pair of spare pajama pants from Harry, which weren't as big on her as she had first thought and an oversized shirt from George to sleep in. Clothes for the day would be a different story. She couldn't wear what she had on yesterday because Mrs. Weasley had insisted on washing it.

Hermione's trunk lay open, a knee length skirt on top of the pile of folded clothes inside. Trilla picked up the skirt and held it up to herself. It came to about her mid thigh, not short enough to look slutty, which she was grateful for. A top wouldn't be as simple though. Suddenly, Trilla smiled. She had an idea.

Fifteen minutes later she was washed and dressed with her hair and makeup done and entered the kitchen once again. Ginny looked up from the table where the chess tournament had started. From the looks of it Ron was beating Harry pretty badly, which wasn't a surprise seeing as how Ron beat everybody at chess.

"Nice outfit, Trilla," Ginny said appreciatively.

"Thanks." Trilla smiled. Percy looked up at her and frowned.

"Is that one of my shirts?" He asked.

"Yeah," Trilla said, straightening the white button down shirt, "you're not mad, are you? You were the closest person to my height."

"No, no," Percy said as Harry's knight took the head off of one of Ron's pawns, "not at all. Just ask next time, ok?"

"Sure."

"But where did you find the rest of the outfit, if you don't mind me asking."

"The skirt is Hermione's, the button down shirt is yours, obviously, I got the belt from Bill's room," she said pointing to the chain link belt around her waist, "the tank top is also Hermione's, and the shoes and socks are Ginny's." Trilla smiled, glad she had listened to Ella's ramblings on how to assemble the perfect outfit. Well, this one wasn't perfect, but under the circumstances Trilla thought that she had done rather well for herself.

"Where'd you get an outfit like that?" George said, coming through the back door with Fred and Mr. Weasley.

"You don't like it?" Trilla asked tentatively.

"I didn't say that now, did I? I just wanted to know where you found all those clothes. The ensemble looks rather good on you," George paused before asking, "Percy let you borrow his shirt?"

"Despite, what you may think, dear brother, I do indeed let friends borrow my things." Percy said, eyes on the chess game once again.

"Oh, ho! Trilla, you better watch out. Percy now considers you a friend!" Fred said.

"Yes, and I'll be dragging her into my horrible world of rules and books since I couldn't get you two to follow in my footsteps," Percy said, a smile playing on his lips.

"Why I do believe dear old Percykins just made a joke," Fred said, clapping Percy on the back. "Way to go, Perce. I knew you weren't deaf all those years when George and I tried to get you to laugh."

"Don't give yourself so much credit, Fred. I wasn't listening to you at all then."

"Who brought you to your senses then?" Ginny asked, laughing.

"George did," was all Percy would say. Ginny looked at her brother questioningly.

"What did you two…" she began to ask but was cut off by George.

"Sorry, Gin, can't tell you. Top secret information."

"Must be if it can get my sons to get along for once," Mr. Weasley said. "Better get a move on you two," he motioned towards George and Trilla, "If you wait any longer you'll miss the chess tournament. I call winner." Mr. Weasley sat next to Ginny, eyes now glued to the game going on. Trilla had to give Harry credit, he wasn't loosing to Ron as badly as everyone though he would.

"I don't understand how you all are going to sit inside on a perfectly nice summer day." Mrs. Weasley shook her head as she washed the dirty dishes that were overflowing in the sink. "Why you don't go outside and play Quidditch?"

"As tempting as that sounds, Molly, we don't have enough brooms for that. But we will go outside," Arthur said, standing up. "Come on kids, help me bring the table out." Arthur said just as Ron's queen demolished Harry's king.

"Let's go, Trilla." George took Trilla's hand and walked out the back door as Mr. Weasley was trying to steady the kitchen table which was being levitated out the back door.

"Where are we going?" Trilla asked George, as a thunderous crash sounded from inside the house. The two stopped and looked back towards the Burrow.

"Are you ok in there?" Trilla called out. The muffled answer of 'fine, just fine,' came from Arthur Weasley. "Now get this table off of me." George shook his head and continued walking.

"A secret place. Come on, you'll like it." Trilla looked back at the Burrow.

"Shouldn't we go help your dad?"

"Nah," George said dismissively. "There are seven other people in there. They can handle it."


	6. I Always Wanted To Do That!

**Disclaimer - **None of this is mine. All credit goes to J. K. Rowling.

Sorry this took so long to update I didn't really know how George should ask Trilla out. I don't like this chapter as much as the other ones. The good thing is that since I don't go back to school till the end of January I should be able to post more often. Tell be what you think.

* * *

_**My Saving Grace**_

**Chapter 6**

**I Always Wanted To Do That**

"Where are you taking me?" Trilla asked George curiously. They had gone over the hill in back of the Burrow and past the field where they had played Quidditch the night before. George led Trilla away from the nearby town of Ottery-Saint Catchpole and back towards the hills.

"You see that path?" Trilla followed George's hand and saw a tiny path through the tall grass that she swore wasn't there a minute ago. "Go on. I'll be right behind you."

"Why? What's at the other end?" George only smiled in response. She didn't know what he was up to, but since Fred wasn't with them Trilla figured that there wouldn't be anything life threatening at the other end.

It was a dirt path only large enough for one person to walk along it at a time and seemed to begin out of nowhere. Trilla followed it up to the top of the hill were it entered a cluster of trees. She paused for a minute. The sound of water could be heard close by, but could not be seen from where she was standing. George put a hand on her back, forcing her to take another step and enter the forest that had seemingly sprung up out of the ground. Only ten paces in and Trilla stopped, staring in awe at her surroundings.

Tall trees, far older than the ones around the Burrow or the paddock where they played Quidditch, loomed over head casting shadows on the surroundings. Closer to the path was a stream coming down from a higher hill that seemed much farther away before. The stream bubbled and swirled till it came to an abrupt overhang and fell down a series of rocks in a beautiful waterfall, finally collecting at a pool at Victrilla's feet. A few flowering trees lined the edge of the water, gently showering the couple with pink and white petals. As much as the tree's rained their petals on them, they never seemed to loose any flowers. Trilla remembered Mr. Weasley entering the Burrow with the twins and wondered if he had something to do with this.

"Do you like it?" George asked as calmly as his pounding heart would allow.

"It's beautiful," Trilla whispered, still awestruck by her surroundings. She tore her eyes away from the waterfall and looked back at George who was grinning ear to ear.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course." Trilla tried not to smile at how nervous George was acting. She didn't think it possible for him to even know what the word meant. He was always so confident and so level headed in any situation. But at the moment, Trilla was just as nervous as he was. It was the first time they were really alone since they had met with no chance of a professor, friend, or sibling to come and ruin the moment.

"Do you … umm…" George scratched his head looking for the right words to say. Trilla to a step closer to him. "Trilla, will you be my girlfriend?" He said in a rush.

"Did you even have to ask, George Weasley?" George put his hands around Trilla's waist and stepped up to her so that they were almost touching.

"I wanted to do it the right way," he told Trilla as he brushed a strand of black hair out of her face. Trilla simply smiled and stared back, getting lost in his deep chocolaty eyes. They leaned closer to each other, George stopping just as their lips were about to touch. "No one's going to barge in on us this time, are they?" He whispered, looking at Trilla's lips.

"I don't care if they do," Trilla replied. All the nervousness that Trilla had felt earlier, all the questions that she had on how to act like a proper girlfriend were forgotten. All that there was in the world were George and herself at the moment. The corners of George's lips turned up before meeting hers in a passionate kiss. It didn't matter that neither of them knew how to kiss properly. They poured all their love for one another into that kiss. George cupped Trilla's cheeks in both of his hands and Trilla's hands snaked to the back of his head. All of her worries, all of her fears were gone as she stared into his eyes. As long as George was beside her, Trilla knew that she would be safe.

* * *

"Hurry up! We'll be late for the train!" Mrs. Weasley pushed everyone along. She'd been saying this since they left the Burrow, and with good reason. They had only pulled out of the driveway in Mr. Weasley's enchanted car when Fred had left his broom under his bed. Then almost half and hour after that Ginny had realized that her diary was lost. So it wasn't until 10:45 that they had parked and gotten all of the trunks and pets out of the car and were finally at platform 9¾.

Trilla followed Fred and George through the barrier and caught up with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley who were helping Ginny get on the train.

"Now, be good this year, you two." Mrs. Weasley put her hands on her hips and looked at Fred and George sternly in the eye. "I don't want any letters home saying that you let of dung bombs in the dungeons or … or … that you've blown up a toilet."

"We've never blown up a toilet before," Fred said.

"Thanks for the idea though, Mum," George added.

"Don't you dare!" Mrs. Weasley called after them. But Fred and George got on the train faster than Mrs. Weasley could catch them and give them a stern talking to.

"And you, Trilla, dear, please try to keep my boys out of trouble."

"I've been trying, Mrs. Weasley, and let me tell you. If they did half of the things that they think up and were caught, Fred and George would definitely have been thrown out of Hogwarts by now. I figure they know what they're doing. At least most of the time."

"I suppose you're right." Mrs. Weasley said defeatedly.

"Thank you for letting me stay the summer."

"Not at all, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, bringing Trilla into a bone crushing hug.

"Oi, Mum. Let her go or Trilla will miss the train!" George said, his head sticking out of a nearby window.

"Yes, yes. Go on now." Trilla smiled at Mr. Weasley and hurried on train. "Now where did Ron go off too?" Mrs. Weasley said, looking around.

"Yeah were is little Ronnie," Asked Fred. "Did you see him come through the barrier?"

"No, but I'm sure that he's here somewhere." Trilla said, sitting next to George who put his arm around her.

"Yeah, just listen for the sound of Malfoy hitting the floor and I'm sure you'll find Ron with no trouble at all." Lee Jordan walked into compartment and looked at Trilla and George. "Finally. If you two didn't get together soon Fred and I were going to have to take some drastic measures."

"Any more of you two batting your eyes at each other and I think I was going to puke." Fred said.

"Don't have to worry about that anymore." George smiled down at Trilla.

"Oh, God, it's worse." Lee shielded his eyes in mock horror. Trilla just rolled her eyes.

The ride went along fairly uneventfully. A number of people came into their compartment and no one seemed surprised to see that Victrilla and George were dating. Trilla had kicked the boys out when they were about half way to Hogwarts to change into her robes. There was a knock on the door.

"Uh, Trilla?"

"Hold on a minute, Lee. I'm almost done changing."

"Trilla, that Elladora girl is going to kill Malfoy." George's called through the closed door.

"You might want to come and watch. It's pretty entertaining." Fred added. Trilla threw on her cloak and opened the door. Sure enough a crowd had gathered in the hall of the train and was watching Malfoy and Elladora Longbottom who were having a screaming match.

"The only one that has a vacant expression and abnormally blonde hair that I see here is_you_, Draco." Elladora said. Pushing her way to the front of the crowd Trilla saw a girl with blonde hair and a bottle cap necklace standing a few feet behind Ella. Draco glared at Elladora and raised his wand.

"What are you going to do to me? It's not my fault your hair's so blonde it makes you look like an albino dung beetle." Draco's glare deepened but he didn't say anything in reply. "And you really need to come up with a new insult. Saying that people have vacant expressions over and over isn't doing any wonders for your IQ. Go read a dictionary. Maybe then you'll actually have a good insult." Trilla saw it before Ella did. Draco raised his wand and aimed it at Ella's head.

Ella ducked at the last minute and the spell flew over her and hit Lavender Brown who instantly grew a large set of pointy antlers. Lavender's eyes widened in shock as she reached up and felt her new head gear. Parvati put a comforting arm around Lavender's shoulders as she began to cry and led her away from the crowd.

"What a dirty, low down thing to do to somebody! That girl wasn't even in this!"

"Well if you didn't duck we wouldn't have this problem now, would we?" Ella shoved her wand back in pocket since she didn't know any spells yet and walked up to Malfoy who pointed his wand straight at Ella's chest.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Trilla lowered her wand as Draco fell backwards to the floor.

"I had the situation under complete control, Trilla!" Elladora stepped on Malfoys hand hard as she walked around him and over to where Trilla was standing. Everyone who had come to watch what was going on began filtering back into their respective compartments and a line began to form around the sweets trolley a few doors down.

"Ella, you don't know any magic yet. Besides, I've been waiting to do that my entire life."

"Can someone move this so I can get down the train?" the little witch requested, coming to a halt in front of the immobile Draco Malfoy. Fred, George, and Lee dragged him out of the way as Ginny watched.

"Someone may want to take the spell off of him now." Ginny said, staring at him.

"Now why would we go and do a terrible thing like that?" Lee asked her.

"Because Malfoy isn't even blinking. He could go blind like that!" Ginny said worriedly.

"Yeah, you used a little too much power on that one, Trill," George said.

"Can't help it sometimes."

"So, who's going to do the honors?" Fred asked. The rest just stared at him. "Fine, then. I'll do it."

* * *

"Slytherin, I'm telling you. She had a way of getting into trouble."

"So does Harry and he's in Gryffindor." Fred pointed out to Lee.

"Will you three be quiet? You'll miss her being sorted at this rate." Trilla turned back to the Sorting Ceremony and watched as a brown haired boy was sorted into Ravenclaw.

"Are you sure she's Neville's cousin?" George asked her for the millionth time.

"She's also Trilla and Draco's cousin. It's that side she gets it from." Fred told George who nodded in agreement.

"Actually, Elladora's not related to me by blood." Seeing the blank looks from the other three Trilla decided to tell them the story. "Okay. Aunt Narcissa's grandfather's grandfather had a brother who adopted a little wizard boy after his parents died in some sort of accident, I can't remember what it was exactly, though. He took the name of Black and his grandson's granddaughter married Neville Longbottom's uncle."

"That was the most confusing thing that I've heard all day." Lee shook his head.

"So she's a Longbottom, but not really a Black?" George asked.

"Right."

"Ok then. I change by bet. She'll be in Gryffindor."

"Hi." Trilla looked over and saw Elladora sitting next to her.

"When did you get here?" Fred asked her.

"Just now."

"See? I told you that you'd miss the Sorting." Trilla smacked George's arm lightly.

"Hey." He said.

"And I win that bet. Two sickles. Hand it over Lee," Fred held out his hand expectantly.

"I changed my bet. I'm not paying you anything."

"It was too late. Ella had already been sorted." Lee reached into his pocket and stared at the shiny silver coins before dropping them into his hand.

"Thank you."

"Has anyone seen Harry?" Ginny asked as she sat across from Ella.

"No, actually." Trilla said. "I didn't see him on the train either."


	7. To My Dying Day

**Disclaimer - **Once again all this goes to J.K.Rowling.

**I had a lot of trouble starting this chapter. I redid it about four times. So thats why its so long in coming out. I actually quite like the way it turned out. Tell me what you think. **

* * *

_**My Saving Grace**_

**Chapter 7**

**To My Dying Day **

"What happened to you?" Trilla asked a very green Ron as he walked into the Common Room with Harry who was in his scarlet and gold Quidditch robes and Hermione. Harry just shook his head and sat Ron down on one of the couches. Trilla was about to drop the matter when she noticed the Hermione's eyes had been red from crying. "Hermione, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine now." Hermione replied as she sat down next to Ron who promptly belched. A slug flew out of his mouth and onto the floor.

"Eww," Ella said, coming down the stairs from the dormitories. "That's so gross." Trilla wholehearted agreed. She had seen a lot of weird stuff in her time, such as the antlers that second year had been sporting a few weeks ago, but this was one of the weirdest and most disgusting. Who came up with these spells anyway?

"Sorry, can't help it." Ron wiped his mouth on his sleeve. Hermione and Harry didn't have any reaction to what happened so Trilla figured that this had been going on for a while now.

"Hermione, what happened?" Ella asked her as she eyed the slug warily.

"Is it that obvious?" Hermione said, rubbing her eyes.

"Here, that will only make it worse." Ella handed Hermione a small mirror. She looked into it and groaned.

"I look aweful," she moaned.

"I feel aweful," Ron said thickly. Harry patted his back sympathetically and grimaced as a slug narrowly missed his knees.

"At least it's not as bad as it was before," Harry said. Ron nodded in agreement. If a slug flying out of his mouth was considered good, Trilla didn't want to know what it was like before.

"Will someone please explain what is going on?" Trilla was beginning to lose patience.

"Malfoy called Hermione a …a Mudblood." Ron whispered the last part.

"That little twerp! I'll go take care of this." Elladora rolled her sleeves up and made to leave the room. Before she took three steps Trilla caught the back of her robes.

"No you don't, Ella."

"Come on, Trill. Someone has to go and teach him a lesson without their wands backfiring on them." Ron looked at the floor glumly.

"I tried…"he said. Hermione smiled at him and Ron seemed to perk up a bit. Trilla looked between the four.

"I agree that Draco has to be taught a lesson, but I don't think cursing him will do anything except maybe get one of us in detention." As much as she would like to see Ella curse Draco, or more likely, just punch him in the face, it wasn't the smartest idea.

"Funny how it always seems to be us that gets detention and not him," Harry mused.

"That's because Draco's learned to get out of trouble a little too well. Having had me to practice on for so long sort of makes him an expert at that." Trilla sat down and began writing in the diary George had gotten her last year again. "No, we have to wait for the right time, I'm afraid. Especially if it _is_ him who was trying to stop Harry from coming here this year."

"I agree," Hermione nodded in approval. Ella threw her arms in the air in frustration and went back up to her room followed by Harry who went to go change out of his Quidditch robes.

"What time is it, Mione?" Ron asked.

"Ten to seven, Ron. Why?"

"We've got detention in ten minutes," Ron groaned.

"No, you've got detention, Ronald. I didn't fly that ridiculous car to school." Hermione had made her disapproval of the matter very apparent in the past couple weeks.

"I've already told you, Hermione. We had no choice. The barrier wouldn't let us in."

Trilla wasn't in the mood to hear Ron and Hermione argue so she packed up her things and went down to dinner where she was pretty sure she would find Fred, George and Lee. Or at least she hoped so. Those three had been going on about something having to do with bicorn horn powder and Snape's dungeons. Trilla hoped that they didn't do anything too horrible to their potions teacher. True, he was a slimy, greasy git but he was also Ella's godfather. If those three killed Snape Trilla would never hear the end of it.

"Trilla, where have you been?" George asked as Trilla sat next to him at the Gryffindor table.

"Watching your little brother puke up these giant slugs. What kinds of mayhem have you been creating?" Trilla asked the three as she piled potatoes onto her plate.

"Nothing as brilliant as Ron was trying." George replied.

"Who was he trying to curse anyway?" asked Lee. It was common knowledge that Ron's wand hadn't been working the same since he had nearly snapped it in two during his run in with that murderous tree, the Whomping Willow.

"Draco." Trilla replied with her mouth full of food.

"Ah, now that is a scene I truly wish I had seen. Malfoy, the Great Slug Belcher." Most of the Gryffindor table was laughing along by now since many of them had had run ins with Trilla's younger cousin themselves and hated him equally as much. Draco turned around in his seat and glared at Fred, George, Trilla, and Lee. Fred just waved back at him. Trilla broke down in laughter at the look on Draco's face. Crabbe and Goyle didn't seem to understand what everyone was laughing at or what Draco was so angry about. But if Draco said so Trilla knew that they would be up and threatening the Weasley's in no time, but not her. Ever since Trilla had accidentally turned them into a pair of sheep with accidental magic after they had been bothering her on Draco's command and the adults didn't know how to turn them back resulting in a very entertaining trip to St. Mungo's, the two dimwits absolutely refused to confront her.

"Well," George said, "Let's head back, Trilla."

"I'm not done yet though," whined Lee. Trilla rolled her eyes. They had been down here eating for at least 45 minutes by now and the chicken bones in between them was piled so high that it was threatening to topple over.

"Is your name Trilla?" George asked Lee.

"No…" Lee said slowly.

"See? No worries then." George got up and offered a hand to Trilla, which she took, and helped her up.

"Fred, do you recon their trying to get rid of us?" Lee leaned over and asked George's twin.

"You know, I think they are. But I warn you George, from now on whatever pranks we pull when you're not around aren't going to be credited to you."

"Hey, I'm the brains of the operation." Lee shook his head.

"Not anymore. Elladora Longbottom gave us the idea for the last three pranks we did before the Snape one." Trilla laughed. That was so like Ella.

"Oh, yeah." George shrugged. "Come on, Trilla. Lets get out of here."

They walked out of the Great Hall together holding hands. Trilla glanced over at George who smiled at her in return. It was hard to find time to be alone with George with Fred and Lee constantly around them. And when they weren't, there was always Ginny, Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Ella. Silence had fallen between the two but neither of them minded. The quiet was peaceful and all they wanted was to be in each others company for a while.

"What did you say, George?" Trilla had been lost in thought when she thought she heard George say something.

"I didn't say anything." He told her. Trilla looked around confusedly as she heard the sound again. The voice was faint and far off. She couldn't make out what it was saying.

"Did you hear that?" She asked her boyfriend.

"No. It was probably just someone talking in another hallway. Or else it was one of the ghosts." George kept on walking. After glancing around once more, Trilla followed.

But as they turned the corner, Trilla stopped dead in her tracks. Not because the entire hallway was flooded or because Harry, Ron, and Hermione were standing in front of them. On the wall in what looked like blood was written 'The Chamber of the Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, Beware' in large letters. Underneath that Mrs. Norris, Filch's beloved cat, was hanging from a torch by her tail, apparently frozen. But by what spell, Victrilla didn't know. It didn't look like Petrificus Totalus. Trilla looked at George. She didn't need to tell him 'I told you so'. They were both thinking it.

"Did you two here the voice?" Harry asked, almost pleadingly. Ron and Hermione glanced at each other behind Harry's back and Trilla realized that they couldn't hear the voice either.

"I did," Trilla replied, "but George didn't."

The five just looked at each other at a loss for words as the hall began to fill with students returning from dinner. Fred stood next to Trilla on her other side, making her feel very short. People whispered to one another wondering aloud what the phrase meant, if it was threat, and if everyone was safe. Apparently Draco was up to answering the question.

"Enemies of the Heir, Beware?" He read aloud. He smirked and looked directly at Hermione. "You'll be next, Mudbloods."

A Slytherin fourth year who was standing a few feet away from Trilla began to snigger but stopped when Trilla gave him a death glare and Fred and George cracked their knuckles in case he didn't get the hint the first time. Everyone quieted down, partly because someone had finally gone to fetch the teachers and partly because most people either were shocked, outraged, or downright scared of what Draco had said.

Trilla locked eyes with Draco, who, now that some people had moved aside, was standing directly across the hall from her. Draco sneered at her. Trilla narrowed her eyes at him. Draco's sneer faltered for a second. George tugged at her arm and she followed him back down the hall toward the Common Room. Apparently she had been so wrapped up in the staring match with Draco that she hadn't noticed Professor Dumbledore dismissing them.

* * *

"But what does it mean?" asked Elladora. Trilla was walking around the lake with Elladora, Ginny, and George. George and herself had gone outside to get away from Lee and Fred. But no matter what they did people just seemed to latch onto them. Trilla was beginning to think that they were cursed. But more likely it was George's fault. He was the popular one of the two after all.

"No idea," George scratched his nose idly. "So when are the two of you heading back to Gryffindor Tower?"

"What's the Chamber of Secrets?" Trilla asked Ella. "Did Hermione know?"

"No," Ella shook her head. "And she's been going on about reading Hogwarts, A History for ages."

"If it's supposed to be a secret chamber, of course it wouldn't be in the book." George suddenly smiled and looked down at Trilla. "But I know where it might be." Trilla smiled when she realized what he was talking about. The Marauders Map! "Come on!"

George and Trilla ran all the way back up to the Gryffindor Common Room. Trilla bumped the portrait frame on the way in leaving the Fat Lady muttering something that sounded a lot like, "No respect these days. No respect at all." Trilla and George were still holding hands as the ran across the Common Room and up the stairs towards the dormitories. There were several cat calls and wolf whistles that followed them. Percy watched them and it looked like he was going to get up and say something when Fred promptly sat on his lap. Lee grabbed his arms from behind.

"Go on, George, go for it! I'll deal with little Percykins."

"Get off me, Fred. I'm a Prefect. I'll take away house points!" Percy threatened not realizing that the five point he might take away was nothing to the amount of points that Fred and George had lost them only that previous day.

"Thanks, Fred," Goerge called down from half way up the staircase.

"I'm here for you, mate," Fred called back.

George grinned at Trilla and picked her up bridal style. She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. He didn't let her down until they had reached the dorm room he shared with Fred and Lee. Once back on her feet, Trilla opened up George's trunk and pulled out a large, blank parchment that was folded over many times. Tapping her wand against it, Trilla muttered "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

The blank paper suddenly came to life. Classrooms, hallways, dormitories. Even the secret passages in and out of the castle were all neatly labeled. As were the tiny pairs of feet that could be seen moving all over the castle with a name attached to each. George came up behind Trilla and wrapped his arms around her waist. He looked over her shoulder as she opened up the map and searched for a room called the Chamber of Secrets. But there was none to be found. Trilla looked again but she could feel George's breath lightly on her ear and it was distracting her more than a little bit.

"Not here." She said.

"Mmmhmm." George replied as he began to kiss the base of her neck. "They never found it either." George covered Trilla's neck in light kisses, all the while traveling up towards her mouth. Trilla turned her head just enough so that their lips would meet. Their lips crashed together in the most passionate kiss they had ever shared. Trilla wrapped her arms around George's neck and her knee's didn't want to seem to hold her up any longer. George wrapped his arms around Trilla's waist more tightly when he felt her slipping and put the other one on her back. Trilla's hands started playing with the hair on the back of George's head. George ran his tongue over Trilla's bottom lip lightly asking for permission to enter just as the door flew open.

"Victrilla Black!" Percy Weasley shouted. "George Weasley!"

Trilla and George broke apart. George smoothed his hair sheepishly. Fred, who had come into the room with Lee right after Percy, pushed his way through and grabbed at the Marauders Map, which was still visible for all to see. Lee was just standing there laughing, great friend that he was.

"What were you two doing?" Percy demanded of them. George opened his mouth and closed it again, not sure of what to say.

"You're a smart boy, Percy, I'm sure you could figure it out," Trilla said. Lee started laughing even harder when he saw the look on Percy's face which was topped only by the scared look on George's face. Fred was trying to keep as straight a face as possible, but was failing badly at it, and hid his smile as he put the map in his trunk. "I didn't think I would need to spell it out for you."

"I just don't want you two going to far." Percy managed to stutter.

"Go too far?" Trilla pushed her long, black hair out of her face and folded her arms. "We haven't even snogged properly because all you people won't leave us alone. And don't you mention going too far with me, Mr. Weasley. I wasn't the one that was caught shagging Penelope Clearwater in Filch's broom closet." Percy turned bright red at this and tried to say something but no words seemed to come so he just turned around and walked out.

Fred and Lee were practically in tears by now they were laughing so hard. George finally relaxed and began to laugh along as well.

"Where did you hear that?" Fred asked her, once they had all calmed down.

"Katie heard it from Angelina," she explained.

"Ah, Angelina. How I love that girl." Fred smiled and glanced over at Lee.

"Well, I think we'll leave you two alone now." Lee said standing.

"Don't bother worrying about us walking in on you." Fred joined Lee at the door. "We're not all like Percy. Some of us actually have some decency."

"Who would have thought dear Percykins had it in him?" Lee shook his head in disbelief and left the room.

"Have fun," said Fred, winking. Trilla grabbed the closest thing to her, which just happened to be one of George's, or was it Fred's, shoes and threw it at Fred. "Okay, okay I get the picture. I'm leaving."

"So where were we?" George asked, his arms circling Trilla's waist once again. Trilla smiled as George leaned down and kissed her. But Trilla pulled away as George pulled her in closer to him. "What is it?" George asked concernedly.

"George, I," Trilla started. But she didn't know how to finish. She didn't know how exactly to voice her fears. But George only smiled softly back at her.

"I would never dream of rushing things like that." George cupped her face in both of his hands causing her to look up at him. "Neither of us are up to Percy's standard of a relationship yet." Trilla smiled as George tried to joke. "But we have something he doesn't."

"And what is that?" Trilla asked him softly. She was totally enraptured by his eyes. The castle could have fallen down around them and she still would have been standing there staring into his eyes, wrapped in his embrace.

"Besides a sense of humor? Love." George kissed Trilla softly on the lips. "I want to always be with you, Trilla. To my dying day. And I would never do anything that may compromise that."

If it had been anyone else in the world Trilla would not have believed a word they said. But this was George, the prankster, the master of jokes, and the one she loved. It wasn't often that George was this serious and this sincere. But when he was everyone, especially Victrilla, knew that what he said was the truth. All the fears and doubts that she had were. Right now it was just herself and George. As it would always be.

"You don't need to worry about that, George. I will always be with you. To my dying day." Trilla reached up and cupped George's face in her hands. "Now, where were we?" She could feel George's smile as she kissed him. They broke apart and she smiled back.

There was a bang on the door and Oliver Wood stepped into the room.

"Quidditch practice, Weasley. Tomorrow. Five PM sharp." Wood finally seemed to notice Trilla was in there. "Oh sorry." Wood turned around and left without another word.

"Why does that always happen?"

"Dunno." George replied, scratching his head. "But I'd mind if we didn't have forever to fix it."


	8. The Voice

**Disclaimer**None of this is mine (except for Trilla and Ella). All credit goes to J.K.Rowling.

Sorry about the long wait. I had a bit of good old fashoined writers block. I know this chapter isn't really up to par but the next one will be better. I promise. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

****

**_My Saving Grace_  
**

**Chapter 8**

**The Voice**

"Do you think she's right?" Lee asked Trilla over a game of exploding snap.

"It's McGonagall, Lee. She's usually right." Trilla sighed and Lee's shoulders sagged. Hermione had asked Professor McGonagall earlier that day what the Chamber of Secrets was and McGonagall, having a temporary loss of sanity, told them. Needless to say, the story of Salazar Slytherin building the Chamber himself and keeping a monster inside spread throughout the castle like wildfire. The Common Room was quite this evening. Many people were quietly going over the new information with their friends, but more likely because there was Quidditch practice and Fred and George weren't there to create mass hysteria on levels never before seen by mankind. That left Lee and Trilla alone to do homework and pass the time till they came back.

But Trilla couldn't do her homework. She couldn't concentrate on anything at all. Not even the card game she was playing with Lee. The only thing she could think about was the Sorting hat two years ago telling her that she was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin. Slytherin had built the Chamber of Secrets. So was it really Draco doing all of this? Because Trilla knew that it definitely wasn't her. And it made sense if it was Draco as long as the Slytherin line ran through her mother's side.

But it wasn't like Trilla was going to send a letter back to Aunt Narcissa about it. So Trilla was stuck back at square one once again.

"If I have to hear one of Oliver's speeches one more time," George complained as he sat and wrapped and arm around Trilla.

"Could always be worse, mates," Lee said as Fred dragged over a chair and leaned over to get a better look at Lee's cards.

"How could it get worse?" Fred asked him as Lee laid the cards face down on the table.

"You could always have to listen to one of Percy's speeches." Trilla shuddered at the thought.

* * *

"But she's got to be somewhere," Hermione said as she searched the library for the second time with Trilla and Ella.

"She could be at the Quidditch match by now." Trilla said. "Ginny could have left when we were in a different part of the castle." Ella nodded in agreement. "Hermione, why don't you go down to the Quidditch pitch and ask Ron if he's seen her yet. Ella, you go look in the stands and ask people in your year if they've seen her. I'll stay here and look some more."

No one had seen Ginny since the night before at dinner time. They knew that Ginny had gone to bed because Ella said that her covers were messed up when she woke up that morning. But where Ginny was was a mystery. Hermione, Ella, and Trilla told her worried older brothers that they would look for her at breakfast. If Trilla wasn't worried that something bad had happened to Ginny she would have been pretty mad that she was missing her boyfriend's first Quidditch match of the season. Hermione didn't mind that she was missing Quidditch, she didn't like that much anyways. Ella, on the other hand, loved Quidditch but was more worried about her friends than missing the match.

Trilla looked in the library a little longer as Hermione and Ella made their way down to the Quidditch pitch. Once they were far enough away Trilla went up to the Gryffindor Common Room. The castle was too big to keep searching blindly as they had been doing. The Marauders Map would make things much easier – as long as Ginny wasn't in the Quidditch stands.

The Fat Lady looked at Trilla suspiciously as she entered the disserted Common Room. She walked into the twins' room and opened George's trunk. After a few minutes of searching she moved over to Fred's trunk. There it was laying under a pile of homework.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good."

The map formed itself in front of her. Trilla opened it and began to search the castle. There were very few people still inside. There was someone sitting in the Ravenclaw Common Room and another person in the Slytherin Dormitories. Wait, no. Trilla squinted down at the parchment as one pair of feet suddenly turned into two. She flipped the page of parchment to a different section of the castle as quickly as possible glad that she didn't catch the names because if it was her dear little cousin who had decided that during the middle of a Quidditch match was the opportune time to do some studying of anatomy – not a class usually offered at Hogwarts – she was going to become sick.

Trilla turned her eyes towards the Quidditch stands and sighed. It would take forever to sort Ginny's name out of the rest. But upon remembering George's worried face Trilla knew that she had to do this. If something actually had happened to Ginny she couldn't be able to bare the look on George's face then. Trilla sat down on George's bed. This would take some time. She hoped that Hermione and Ella were having better luck in finding Ginny.

Trilla breathed into the pillow and smiled. It smelled just like George. If anyone saw her know they would probably thing she had lost her mind. Her she was, the Marauder's Map in front of her, sitting in the middle of the deserted fourth year boy's dormitory smelling a pillow. Reluctantly, Trilla put down the pillow and looked back at the Map. It was then that she heard it again. That voice.

She couldn't make out what it said at first. Trilla sat very still in the middle of the bed. What was it? Where was it coming from? Just as Trilla had convinced herself that she had imagined it, she heard it again. Trilla grabbed the Map and ran out of the dormitories. She followed the voice but whatever was making it ran much faster than she did. Perhaps it was a ghost as George had suggested. Trilla checked the Map again, but like all the other times she looked, there was no name in the hallway with her.

Kill ….

Blood….

The voice was fainter and father away. It was no use. Trilla stopped moving and leaned against one of the walls to catch her breath. By this point the Quidditch pitch would probably be closer than the Common Room. After turning the parchment blank she tucked it in one of the pockets in her jeans and made a mental note to return it to Fred and George after the match ended.

"What's wrong with that Bludger?" Trilla asked Ron. George chased down the Bludger and hit it towards the Slytherin Captain. The snitch, however, seemed to have other plans. It spun a full 180 degrees and flew straight at Harry. And from the look on Ron's face this wasn't the first time this had happened either.

"It's been following Harry the whole time," Neville said from her other side. "I'm starting to think that someone's bewitched it."

The match went on, Harry trying to outsmart the Bludger as Fred and George's irritation increased. Then Harry disappeared from sight, Draco right on his tail. They had both spotted the Snitch at the same time. Three minutes later Draco flew out from underneath the stands, fell off his broom and hit the ground – hard. Ella frowned and leaned over the railing to see if he was ok, but Trilla had seen the little weasel in worse situations before and look less hurt. It was common knowledge that he was just looking for the attention. But Harry was too busy watching the snitch to worry about the bludger that had been following him. Just as Harry stretched out his arm to grab the fluttering golden ball the Bludger hit him in the forearm. Harry clutched his arm to his chest, obviously in a great deal of pain.

"Come on!" Hermione grabbed Ron and Ella who were standing closest to her and rushed out of sight. Trilla and Neville glanced at each other and ran to catch up with them. They pushed their way through the stands and ran all the way down the staircase that led to the field. Hermione shouted something and as Trilla got onto the field she saw pieces of what was once a bludger shower down on Harry who had the Snitch clasped in one hand held triumphantly in the air.

"And Harry's got the Snitch! 150 points to Gryffindor! GRYFFINDOR WINS!" Lee's voice roared across the stands as a massive cheer arose from the crowd. By now the players were landing and the Gryffindor team was making its way over to Harry and the others.

"Come on, Harry. Let's go to Madame Pomfrey." Harry took the hand that Ron offered to him but was stopped by a golden haired wizard in lilac colored robes.

"Don't worry," Professor Lockhart said reassuringly, "I can mend this in a jiffy." Trilla and George glanced at each other from over Harry's head, both thinking that Harry would likely wind up in a worse state than he was already in due to the incompetence of the wizard at hand.

"No." Harry said flatly. This took even some of the students by surprise. No matter what anyone said, it wasn't very often that a professor was told no as flatly as that. "You won't."

"The boy doesn't know what he's saying." Lockhart said half to the onlookers, half to himself. "Come now, Harry. This won't hurt at all."

Trilla was afraid to watch as Lockhart pushed up the sleeve on Harry's arm to reveal a growing black and blue on his forearm. And then Harry's arm suddenly went very, very limp. A hush fell over the crowd as they all thought one thing. What did Lockhart do to poor Harry. The question was soon answered though as Lockhart picked up Harry's arm once again.

"Yes, well." Lockhart said slowly, obviously trying to concoct some fabrication to tell the crowd. "That can sometimes happen. Honest mistake." Lockhart looked to the students for some kind of support but by this time they were looking in horror and disgust at Harry's arm, which was flopping about uselessly by his side. Ron put his hand out once again and helped Harry to his feet.

"Alright. Move along you lot." George said to the surrounding crowd. The Gryffindor Quidditch team hovered around Harry as they began to make their way back up to the castle.

"Nothing to see here," Fred added. More students were coming onto the pitch now to see what the commotion was for themselves making it near impossible to get through. "What?" Fred said to a group of Hufflepuff's who were intent on following them all the way back to the castle, "Haven't you seen a bloke with no bones before?"

"Should have come to me straight away…" Madam Pomphrey kept muttering to herself as she got Harry into a bed and began looking for some kind of potion in the store cupboard. "I can mend bones in an instant. But growing them back…." She trailed away as she began pouring Skelegrow into a cup.

"You will be able to though," Trilla said looking at Hermione for confirmation. Hermione just shrugged. Healing seemed to be one subject she knew nothing about. "Won't you?"

"Oh, of course. But it will be _painful._" She handed the glass to Harry who took a swig and then spit it out immediately, paying no attention that all of his friends and teammates were getting sprayed. "Alright all of you, out."

"But, Madam Pomphrey," Oliver began, "We've only been here five minutes."

"Regrowing bones is a nasty business. Harry needs his rest. Out." She repeated when she saw that no one was moving.

Trilla groaned and sat down on the couch in the common room, throwing her legs over George, who hadn't yet changed out of his Quidditch robes.

"What's wrong?" He asked her.

"My legs hurt. I ran practically all over the castle today." George frowned.

"Why? What happened."

"I was chasing that voice. You know, the one that Harry and I heard before." George nodded and lowered his voice.

"Did you find whatever's making it?"

"No. But it can't be human. No one can run that fast."

"Maybe it can fly." George suggested. Trilla raised an eyebrow questioningly. "It could be an animagus." She thought about the possibility for a second and then dismissed it.

"It can't be an animagus" Trilla told George. "We'd be able to see it then. And it still doesn't explain why Harry and I are the only ones that can hear it. Besides, animals don't talk."

"Mate, where'd you put the map?" Trilla turned to see Fred leaning over the back of the couch.

"You lost it?" George said, getting worried.

"No he didn't. I have it here." Trilla pulled it out of her robes and handed it back to Fred.

"You know, I think you're a bad influence on her, George." Lee said, plopping down in a nearby chair.

"I like to think of it being more like a nudge in the right direction," George said, grinning.

"Agreed." Trilla and Fred said at the same time.

"Don't you start that now, too," Lee said. "I think I might go insane if all three of you start finishing each others sentences."

"Ginny!" Ella's voice was clearly heard above the din in the Common Room. "Where the _hell_ have you _been_?"

Ginny's face, already pale, seemed to grow a bit paler. "I…" she began.

"We were all worried sick about you!" Percy, sensing that Ella was turning more into Mrs. Weasley by the second, ran over to put a stop to it.

"Gin, you're looking a bit a pale. Perhaps you should go see Madam Pomphrey. You might be coming down with something." Ginny half smiled at Percy.

"Thanks, Percy. But I'll be okay." Ginny made her way past Ella and up the stairs to her room.


	9. The Heir of Slytherin

_**My Saving Grace**_

**Chapter 9**

**The Heir of Slytherin**

"Remind me why we're going to this thing?" Trilla asked Katie Bell. She had been up in her room enjoying the extra bit of sleep she got on a Saturday when Katie had woken her up saying something about a dueling club. All Trilla had done was roll over and pull the sheets over her head. But after Angelina and Ella had run in as well there was just so much noise that sleep was an impossibility.

"Because," Ella said impatiently. "It's a dueling club! That's got to be the best club in Hogwarts!"

"Except for Quidditch," Angelina reminded her.

"Yeah, but that's not a club," Ella retorted.

"It's still better than any old dueling club, no matter how gorgeous the instructor might be." Trilla had been about to break up the ensuing argument, but the thought of Professor Lockhart being thought gorgeous was enough to make her puke. "Don't you agree, Trilla?" Angelina asked after seeing the look on Trilla's face.

"Nah. She likes the roguishly handsome types." George leaned down and kissed Trilla's cheek. No one had any idea where he had come from, but since it was Fred, George, and Lee they accepted it in stride.

"Sure is a lot of people here," Lee said, looking at all the students filling the Great Hall. Suddenly a large grin broke out on his face. "Hey, Fred, George what if we…" But Angelina cut him off.

"Don't even think about it." Lee closed is mouth when he saw Angelina's narrowed eyes. He had commentated enough games to know that when Angelina got that look she meant business. And that was almost always bad news for the opposite team.

"Can you even believe this guy?" George asked when Professor Lockhart took off his hideous maroon cloak and threw it into a crowd of Ravenclaw 6th year girls who shrieked in delight.

"It's like all the girls in this school are hypnotized by him." Fred pointed at Katie and Angelina who were watching Lockhart and completely ignoring the conversation around them. Which, Trilla thought, with the Fred, George, and Lee standing next to them wasn't the smartest idea. "See?" Lee shook his head sadly.

"Aren't I lucky then?" George kissed Trilla's cheek. "Trilla's practically the only girl who thinks he's a dimwit."

"That's because you're so devilishly handsome," Lee told George.

"Why thank you," Fred replied, "I do think that I look quite dashing. Wouldn't you agree, Trilla?" Trilla smacked Fred's arm in reply and George followed suit. "Ouch," Fred said, rubbing his arm. "You didn't have to hit me that hard, George." George only shrugged.

"I smell blood."

Trilla's head snapped around so fast that the back of her neck hurt. At first she had thought that it was the same voice she had heard before running through the castle. But this voice was different. It wasn't as deep or as menacing as the first one was. George felt Trilla tense and looked at her in concern.

"Are you all right there, Trill," he whispered to her.

"Shhh, wait a moment."

"Leave him alone," she heard Harry say from the platform that was standing in the middle of the Great Hall. Craning her neck, she saw a snake almost at eye level with a Hufflepuff second, or maybe third, year who looked absolutely terrified.

"Don't get in between me and my dinner, boy." This time Trilla knew that it was the snake that was talking. It wasn't her imagination. She wasn't insane. Suddenly things were making more sense, though now Trilla had wished she was in the dark once again.

"I said to leave him alone," Harry walked closer to the snake. It turned angrily towards him.

"George," Trilla whispered, turning towards him. She bit her lip, trying to phrase her question the right way.

"What is it?" He asked when Trilla didn't say anything.

"Why is the snake talking?" She said very quietly so that Fred and Lee wouldn't hear. George looked at her for a second and then took her hand.

"Come on. Let's get out of here." Trilla followed George all the way up to his dorm. "Now what was that?"

"The snake. It was talking. It was going to eat that little Ravenclaw third year,"

"Hufflepuff second year," George corrected her.

"That isn't important." Trilla said, George's attempt at cheering her up a bit falling through completely. "What is important is that Harry was talking and the snake was talking back."

"Hold up a second. Harry was hissing." George scratched his head, deep in thought.

"What did you just say?" But George wasn't listening and went right on talking.

"So that means that you and Harry are both Parselmouths!" He said. Trilla looked at him with a forlorn look on her face. "Which," George said, seeing how Trilla didn't look very happy, "Under other circumstances would be a pretty cool thing." Trilla looked at George out of the corner of her eye. He smiled at her and sat down on his bed next to her. "Hey, it isn't that bad."

"Every witch or wizard who was a Parselmouth turned out bad. Salazar Slytherin was a Parselmouth. So was … Voldemort." Trilla stumbled over what to call the evil wizard who was also her father. Trilla looked at George and much to her surprise found tears in her eyes.

"That doesn't matter," George said, putting an arm around her.

"Yes, it does, George. First year the Sorting Hat told me that I was descended from Salazar Slytherin. And look at who was my father. How can being a Parselmouth come to anything good? What if …" Trilla paused, "What if I'm just as bad as they are?"

"Trilla," George said softly. But Trilla looked away. "Trilla look at me." He cupped Trilla's face in one of his hands and turned it towards him. Her eyes met his and George thought for a minute that his heart would break from the amount of sadness and fear in Trilla's eyes. He never wanted her to think that. Ever. She was too good for that. He just needed to show her.

"Trilla don't you ever think that for one minute. That isn't you. You are not evil."

"How do you know?" She asked in a small, scared voice. "How do you know that's true?"

"The same way I know that I love you. It's," George struggled to put the things he was feeling into words. "It's a truth that you can't escape from. Like when you look at Harry you know that he's meant for great things. When you look at Dumbledore you know that he is the most brilliant man that has ever lived. There's no hard evidence. It's not written in a book. But it is true. Just like I love you with all my heart and I know you love me the same way. I know that we will be together till the day we die. And I know that you are not evil.

"Trilla, darling, there are so few truths in this world that when you see one, you have to hold on to it with all your might. You are not evil. You never were and you never will be." Trilla had been staring intensely into George's eyes. For a minute she didn't say anything and George was afraid that he had maybe over done it a bit. But without warning Trilla leaned forward and kissed George with more love and more passion than she ever had before. George wrapped and arm around her back, bringing her closer to him. They broke apart for a minute and Trilla smiled at him. "Better?" he asked her.

"Much," she replied. They began to kiss again when the door flew open. Fred and Lee froze in the doorframe obviously sorry that they had ruined the moment.

"Why do you people _always_ walk in at times like this!" George said angrily.

"Sorry, mate. We didn't know," Lee said, backing up a bit when George got up off the bed and stalked over to them. He finally seemed to have snapped from the months of never getting a moment alone with Trilla and, unfortunately for them, Fred and Lee were the ones who George was going to take his anger out on.

"Well, where else would we be if you didn't see us in the Common Room? It's not dinner and I make it a point never to set foot in the library." Fred and Lee looked at each other with a loss for words. Trilla had never seen George get angry at Fred. She didn't think that it was possible.

"Look, George, we won't do it again. It was an accident." Lee said, breaking the silence. George didn't say anything. He just glared at his two best friends.

"George," Trilla called.

"What?" He replied, still eyeing Fred and Lee suspiciously. Trilla thought it was time to step in and help the two boys out. They obviously didn't know what to do with an angry George.

"Want to go take a walk?"

"Yeah, sure." George's voice lost the edge to it and Trilla took his hand and walked out of Gryffindor Tower, leaving Fred and Lee contemplating George's sudden outburst. "So where do you want to go?"

"It doesn't really matter." Trilla replied. "I just didn't want to see you pick a fight with your brother." Neither of them said anything for a moment. Then Trilla broke the silence. "Why did you get so angry, anyways?"

"I suppose all the months of never getting a moment alone finally caught up to me. Lee and Fred just happened to be in the wrong place when I finally snapped." George started laughing. "Did you see the looks on their faces? It was worth it just for that!" Trilla laughed along as well.

"Miss Black, Mr. Weasley."

The two turned around to see none other than Albus Dumbledore walking down the corridor behind them.

"If I may have a quick word with Miss Black for a moment?" It was more of a command than a request and George nodded before walking a little ways off and sitting on one of the stone benches under the window.

"What is it, Professor?" Trilla asked the Headmaster. But she already knew what this would be about.

"Come to my office," Dumbledore said. They walked passed George and down another corridor before stopping in front of a large, stone gargoyle.

"Lemon drops," the Headmaster said. The gargoyle stood aside and Trilla saw a winding staircase behind it.

Walking into Dumbledore's office was like walking into the attic of a collector's home. There were magical objects that were whirring and whistling and glowing. Cabinets were full of items that Trilla couldn't identify. Hundreds of portraits hung on the walls. Some were asleep, others were chatting amiably with each other. A few turned and looked down at Trilla and Dumbledore as they entered the room.

"Ah! There's my great granddaughter!" Trilla jumped as looked up to see who was talking. "You haven't been causing any trouble now, have you?"

"No trouble at all, Phinneas." Dumbledore said, taking a seat behind his desk. "I just wanted a word. Please, sit." Victrilla sat and tried not to fidget. "Now, I must ask you a question, Victrilla. How much do you know about your family?"

"Do you mean my parents, sir?"

"Yes, but also going back a bit further than that. Tell me what you know." Dumbledore sat back and waited for Trilla to speak.

"Well, my mother's Bellatrix Lestrange and my father's Voldemort." Trilla was surprised when Dumbledore didn't flinch at his name. Instead he smiled.

"I'm glad to see that you don't call Voldemort He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself. But no one seems to listen to an old man's ramblings as they once did." Dumbledore smiled at Trilla from behind his half moon glasses. "What else do you know?" Trilla hesitated fro a moment.

"First year the sorting hat told me I was the descendant of Salazar Slytherin."

Dumbledore nodded. "As far as I am aware, you are the only descendant of his." Trilla paled. Dumbledore thought it was her. For one brief moment Trilla saw herself getting expelled and thrown into Azkaban. She had to make Dumbledore see the truth.

"It's not me, sir!" She said quickly. "I'm not the one who's doing any of this!"

"I know." Dumbledore held up a hand to make Trilla stop talking. "I wanted to know if you knew anything that might help us. Anything at all." Trilla wrinkled her brow in thought.

"No." She said. "I don't think so."

Dumbledore looked her in the eye and Trilla found herself unable to look away. The intensity of the gaze almost frightened her. It was as if Dumbledore was looking straight into her soul. But then he looked away and Trilla realized that she had been holding her breath.

"Very well. You may go. I dare say a certain Mr. Weasley is waiting for you." Dumbledore smiled and his eyes twinkled.

Trilla smiled back and ran down the staircase where George was waiting at the bottom.

"Is everything ok?" He asked, taking one of Trilla's hands and began walking down the corridor back towards Gryffindor Tower.

"Yeah," Trilla said. Then, more quietly, she added, "He wanted to know what I knew of my parents." George just nodded in understanding.

"Does he know who's behind all this?"

"No." Trilla said. "I don't think so. But from the way he was acting it almost seemed like had an idea."

"Bet its Malfoy. Harry, Ron, and Hermione have been going on about that for ages. And they're always missing after dinner. Wonder what they're up to." George said thoughtfully.

"There you two are," Percy said as Trilla and George walked into the Common Room. "It's almost pasted curfew. Where have you been?"

"Dumbledore's office," George replied as he tried to snake his way passed his older brother to where Fred and Lee were entertaining some first years.

"Dumbledore's office! What have you gone and done this time, George?" Percy tapped his foot impatiently and a very Mrs. Weasley like expression came over his face.

"I didn't do anything. He wanted to talk to Trilla." Percy narrowed his eyes.

"What about?"

"Dumbledore wanted to talk to me privately, Percy, and I don't have to tell anyone what he told me." Percy simply stared at her before giving the two a curt nod and walking off.

"What's got his knickers in a twist?" Lee asked.

"No idea." George said, flopping down on a couch. Fred just stared at him. "What?"

"You're not going to turn us into newts or anything, are you?"

"'Course not. McGonagall hasn't taught us human transfiguration yet." The three boys laughed. It was good to see that everything was back to normal between the three of them.

* * *

"But if it isn't Draco, who is it?" Harry sat down and Ron threw himself onto the couch next to him.

"I've got no idea, mate," Ron said dejectedly. "And poor, Hermione." Harry nodded in agreement.

"What's all this about?" George asked the two.

"We sneaked into the Slytherin Common Room. Draco isn't the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets."

"You sneaked into the Slytherin Common Room?" Fred asked. It was apparent that both Fred and George had long dreamed of something like this but had never accomplished it. Trilla looked form one to the other. They both looked as if they were about to worship Harry and Ron. Trilla just rolled her eyes. Harry and Ron looked at each other and smiled in spite of being so obviously depressed.

"Yeah, it was great. Terrifying. But great!"

"You do know that I could have told you that it wasn't Draco, right?" Trilla told the younger boys. They turned and looked at her, a funny expression on their faces.

"Why didn't you then?" Ron asked. He was beginning to get the look that he gave Hermione when they started arguing, which Trilla didn't appreciate very much. Hermione was talented, yes, but she could be a bit bossy at times and didn't favor being compared to her.

"You never asked!" Trilla replied truthfully. George exchanged looks with Fred and grinned. It was obvious that they expected this to turn into a full blown fight. They sat back, curbing all the questions they had for Ron and Harry about how they could possibly get into the Slytherin Common Room and waited for either Trilla or Ron to explode.

"You might have had the consideration to tell us how you know this!"

"He's my cousin!" Trilla yelled back.

"That's not a very good reason." Ron retorted. "You barely even talk to each other." George opened his mouth to say something and Ron turned on him next.

"Don't you get involved with this as well. Besides you two have detention." Fred and George looked at each other and sighed. Without a word they got up and walked out of the Common Room towards Snape's room in the Dungeons. "So what's the real reason?"

"Nothing that I'm going to tell you. It's private and I don't have to tell anyone." Trilla picked up her diary and ran out of the portrait hole. She had had just about enough of Ron. Under any other circumstances she wouldn't have been so short tempered with him. This time was different though. She had been grappling with herself for the past week or so with weather to tell Harry about her parentage and that she was a Parselmouth too. It might make him feel a little better to know that he's not the only Parselmouth in the school and that it can't be him who opened the Chamber, despite what everyone else thinks.

"Victrilla?"

Trilla stopped walking. Harry walked up to her, genuine concern in his eyes.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"I suppose so." They began walking down the corridor again. "There are just so many things that most people don't know. It's hard to keep your feelings hidden for so long with only George knowing your secrets." Harry nodded.

"I know how you feel. Hermione and Ron are the only ones who know mine, and not all of them at that." They fell into a companionable silence for a while. Then Harry spoke again. "There's so much of my life that I've never told anyone. Like my childhood. They have such a great family and so many people to lean on that Ron doesn't really understand how alone I feel right now. The entire school hates me." Trilla didn't need Harry to tell her that he was talking about the Weasley family. "I can't even remember my parents." Harry added so quietly that Trilla didn't know if she was supposed to have heard it or not.

"I can remember my parents a little. But I wish I couldn't." Harry looked Trilla for the first time since they started walking. "Harry." She said quickly. "I have to tell you something. You deserve to know this."

* * *

**This chapter's a bit darker than the others. Let me know what you think. Sorry for the long wait. **


	10. Cowards and Kidnappings

_**My Saving Grace**_

**Chapter 10**

**Cowards and Kidnappings**

"If you hate me, I completely understand." Trilla held her breath, waiting to see how Harry would take the news. He kept staring at the same place on the floor when she had been talking. Trilla didn't know if that was a bad thing or if he was just comatose.

"I don't hate you." Harry said, much more quickly than Trilla expected. She thought that he would have to think about his answer first, but it seemed that he didn't. "It was Voldemort who killed my parents, Trilla, not you."

Trilla nodded.

The next few weeks were relatively uneventful. Things seemed to be almost back to normal when Percy stopped Trilla in the hall one afternoon. The twins and Lee were missing, probably in the kitchens or else pulling off some prank on the Slytherins. Trilla had no idea what Percy wanted with her.

"Whatever George did, I wasn't part of it." Trilla said quickly. Percy just shook his head.

"It's Ginny." He said quietly.

"Oh." Trilla was taken by surprise. She was almost positive that she was going to get into trouble. "What about her?"

"Do you have any idea why she's so pale all the time?" Trilla shook her head.

"Elladora is good friends with her. Did you speak with her yet?"

"Yes. She doesn't have any idea. I told Ginny to get some Pepper Up Potion from Madame Pomphrey and her ears were smoking for hours. I keep asking her what's wrong but now she won't talk to me." Percy sat down heavily on one of the stone benches in the corridor. He was more worried than Trilla had ever seen him. It was surprising just how little people skills Percy had.

"Maybe you just need to give her space." Percy looked at Trilla quizzically.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she has four protective older brothers to compete with. Ginny probably just wants to try and make friends and do homework and hang out without the rest of you a bit. And, no offence, Percy, you've been breathing down her neck a bit much." Percy thought about what Trilla had said for a long moment.

"Perhaps you're right." He got up and walked down the corridor, leaving Trilla.

"Pssst." Trilla looked around and saw Fred beckoning her from behind one of the tapestries.

"What?" Trilla called out to him.

"Come here and keep quiet." Trilla ran over and found that there was an entire corridor behind the tapestry. "Do you have a spare piece of parchment? One that doesn't have any spells on it already?"

"Why do you need parchment?" Trilla asked suspiciously.

"George ruined our last one and now Lee's skin is purple."

"Excuse me?"

"Bad spell combination." Trilla just nodded. "By the way, you wouldn't happen to know how to reverse that, would you?"

"Sorry, no idea. But I bet Hermione would know."

"I suppose that's a better idea than going to Percy." Trilla handed him a clean parchment and as quickly as he came, Fred was gone. Trilla just shook her head in bewilderment and began the long walk back to Gryffindor Tower.

"All students will return to their Common Rooms immediately."

McGonagall's magically enhanced voice floated through the castle. Students began walking in small groups back to their respective common rooms. Trilla looked for someone she knew, but couldn't find any she knew by name. Trilla saw Professor Flitwick and Professor Sinistra talking as they walked briskly down the hall. Neither seemed to know what had happened. But all the students already knew. The same thing happened when Justin Finch-Fletchley was Petrified. Someone else must have gotten attacked.

The portrait swung open and Trilla scanned the Common Room. Elladora was sitting against one wall, legs crossed, throwing fire crackers at a salamander that kept poking its head out of the fire.

"What's going on?" Trilla asked, sitting next to her.

"Don't know." She answered. "But I couldn't find Ginny all day. Have you seen her?" Trilla shook her head. Ella sighed. "Sweet girl, but you can't keep her in one place long enough to talk through a decent prank."

"You didn't have anything to do with Fred, George, and Lee and a blank piece of parchment, did you?" Ella laughed.

"If I did, did you think I'd tell you? I value my life, thank you very much." Trilla laughed along with Ella as the twins walked in, followed by Lee who had his cloak on with the hood pulled up all the way.

"What happened to you?" Ella asked Lee.

"Do you know how to fix it?" He asked hopefully.

"I'm a first year, Lee. All the advanced stuff you three taught me."

"Oh yeah. I forgot." Lee said absentmindedly.

"Harry," Fred called out when Ron and Harry entered the Common Room nearly an hour later. "Where were you?"

"Hermione's been petrified." Harry said unceremoniously. He threw himself onto the couch and stared at the floor. Trilla looked at George, and he wrapped an arm around her protectively.

"When?"

"How?" Ella and Trilla asked at once.

"They found her outside the library with a mirror in her hand." Ron was staring out the window with an odd look on his face.

"Strange," Trilla said under her breath.

"I didn't know that Hermione carried a mirror around with her." George contemplated.

"That's the thing, she doesn't." Ron slammed his fist on the arm of the couch. "And we're stuck here. Useless." He got up and walked up the stairs to the boys dormitories, not saying another word.

They looked at each other, but no one had any words of encouragement to say. The other students left them alone. Only Dean and Seamus said how sorry they were and Lavender and Parvati asked if they could do anything. But that couldn't change the circumstances. Hermione was petrified, and it was just like Ron said. Short of finding and killing whatever did this to Hermione, they were useless. There was nothing they could do.

* * *

"Trilla!" Trilla stopped walking and looked around for the source that was calling her name. It sounded like Harry, but she couldn't be sure. Then Harry and Ron rounded the corner and skidded to a halt in front of her.

"What happened?" She asked them. They were both panting hard and had hopeful expressions on their faces, which was odd these days. Both had been quiet and brooding since Hermione had been petrified, which was completely understandable.

"What do you know about Basilisks?" Ron asked, looking at her hopefully.

"Umm," Trilla didn't know what to say. "Nothing." Harry and Ron looked at each other and their smiles faltered. Usually only George, Fred or Lee asked her questions like that. The end result was always funny and usually explosive. With Harry and Ron, though, Trilla expected that this had to do with something a bit more sinister with Harry's record so far.

"Alright, come with us anyway." Ron grabbed her sleeve and dragged Trilla down the corridor.

"Where are we going?"

"To Myrtle's bathroom. Tom Riddle said that a girl died the first time the Chamber of Secrets was opened and Aragog said basically the same thing. We think she might still be there. It could be Moaning Myrtle."

"Who's Tom Riddle? And who's Aragog?" Whatever Ron and Harry were talking about seemed important, but they seemed to forget that they had been keeping many secrets to themselves the past few months. Trilla would help them in any way they needed short of murder, but first she needed to know what they were talking about.

"Aragog's a giant spider that Hagrid thinks makes a good pet and Tom Riddle's that bloke Harry's been talking to in the diary," Ron answered quickly.

"Diary? Have you been writing secret love notes to someone, Harry?" Harry laughed but Ron just stared at Trilla blankly.

"You spend too much time with Fred and George," he said.

"Thank you. I'll take that as a complement." Trilla froze and paled as they rounded the corner to the girl's bathroom that Moaning Myrtle spent most of her time in. There on the wall was another message underneath the first two.

"Her skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever." Harry read the message quietly. It was written in blood, just as the other two were. This time it held a much more sinister note. Just who's blood was that written in? Trilla felt an overwhelming sense of dread as she stared at the wall.

"All students will return to their dormitories immediately." McGonagall's magically enhanced voice echoed around the castle. It seemed to echo more than usual. Trilla turned around and saw McGonagall standing a few paces behind Harry, Ron and herself.

"Professor," Harry was the first to gain the ability to speak back, "What's happened?" Slowly, the other teacher's trickled in the corridor. With Professor Dumbledore out of Hogwarts due to Lucius Malfoy, McGonagall was acting as temporary Headmistress. She looked between the three. Torn weather to tell them anything or not.

"They have the right to know, Minerva," Professor Sprout said, laying a hand on her arm.

"Very well then." She turned slowly to face the three, taking as much time as possible without it looking like she was stalling for time. "Someone has been taken into the Chamber itself, I'm afraid." Many of the teachers didn't seem to know this either as there were gasps. Professor Sinistra covered her mouth in horror. Even Professor Lockhart seemed to be shocked.

"Who, Minerva?" The Ancient Runes professor asked the question that they all were thinking. Professor McGonagall's eyes focused on Ron. They were sad, filled with pity, and for the slightest space of time, fear, before McGonagall's face resumed its usual composed look.

"Ginny Weasley."

Ron stopped breathing for a second and his face got very pale. Panic tried taking over Trilla's mind for a minute until she pushed that thought away. Ginny would be fine. There was nothing to worry about. At least that was what Trilla tried convincing herself.

"Well, we have to get her out of there." Trilla regretted saying that the minute it came out. She had a bad knack for stating the obvious when she didn't know what to say.

"Very true, Black." Everyone turned as Lockhart began talking charismatically. "We should get onto that strait away. I'll just contact the right people at the Ministry and your sister will be back safely in no time at all." The last part was directed at Ron. He just stared back at Lockhart. Trilla wasn't sure if it was because he was still in shock or because he hated and mistrusted Lockhart, as they all did.

"Why don't you go rescue the girl, Gilderoy?" McGonagall looked at him with distaste. "Just last week you were saying how you knew where the Chamber was located all along." The other teachers nodded and murmured their agreement. "It's settled then. Gilderoy, you will rescue Miss Weasley."

Lockhart looked from McGonagall to the three students as if this was all some bad joke between them. "Right," he said, "right. I'll just umm…" Lockhart fished for words uncharacteristically. "Get ready."

McGonagall rolled her eyes as Lockhart practically ran down the hall from whence he came. She regained her usual composure very quickly. "I will alert Molly and Arthur. Please return to Gryffindor Tower." With that she swept down the hallway towards her classrooms.

"We have to go tell Fred and George." Trilla said.

"McGonagall's probably already told them." Ron said. He had regained some of his color and had a determined look in his eyes. "We probably know more than Lockhart does. Come on. We're going to go help him." Ron started off down the hallway. Harry and Trilla exchanged looks before running after him.

Lockhart's room wasn't as they expected it to be. All of the self portraits had been taken off the walls and were stacked in one corner. A trunk, bulging with clothes peeking out under the lid, sat in the middle of the room. "Oh, it's you three." Was all the professor said when they entered. He looked at the briefly before going back to throwing books into a suitcase, not bothering to arrange them in any particular order.

"You're leaving?" Harry said, outraged. "Now?"

"We really need you, Professor. My sister needs you. And you're running out on us?" Ron's voice was laced with venom.

"I don't know where the Chamber of Secret's is or what to do even if I did."

"All that stuff you did, though," Trilla tried to make sense out of what she was hearing. "You knew what to do then."

"I didn't actually do any of that," Lockhart scoffed. "I just took the credit." Trilla's jaw dropped. She expected this out of Uncle Lucius and Draco, not Lockhart, however cocky he might be. "I can't be having you know my secret, though." Lockhart raised his wand only to find three more point at his face. He faltered and Harry easily disarmed him.

"I don't think you'll be leaving just yet, Professor." Trilla motioned Lockhart forward with her wand. Having no choice, he did as he was told.

"Ok, guys," Trilla said as they entered the girls bathroom haunted by the ghost commonly known as Moaning Myrtle. "Now what?"

"Myrtle?" Harry called out tentatively. "Myrtle, can we ask you something?"

"Ooo, Harry!" Myrtle floated out of one of the stalls and smiled flirtatiously at Harry. "What do you want?"

"Uh," Harry glanced at Ron who nodded at him encouragingly. "We want to ask you how you died." Trilla couldn't help but think that it sounded a bit anticlimactic when it was put that way.

"It was simply horrible!" Myrtle was only too happy to share all the gory details. Ron nudged Trilla as Myrtle was talking and handed her a sheet of paper. It was ripped out of a book and had Hermione's handwriting on it. Trilla half listened to Myrtle's story and read the article on Basilisks. Everything suddenly made sense. The voices, the people being petrified – it all fit.

Out of the corner of her eye Trilla saw movement. She raised her wand in Lockhart's direction as he tried to slink backward. He froze, eyes on her wand.

"It's got to be in here somewhere." Harry said. "Look for the Slytherin snake somewhere. That's probably what Salazar Slytherin marked the entrance with."

They found a small snake etched into a tap on one of the sinks. Harry and Trilla exchanged glances. "Parseltongue, do you reckon?" Trilla asked.

"Probably," Harry conceded.

It took a few tries, but after a minute or two Harry finally managed to open the chamber. The sinks completely disappeared, leaving nothing but a large black void in the floor. Trilla lit her wand and held it over the opening. The bottom couldn't be seen.

"Good job, everyone. Well, I really must be going now." Lockhart went to make a dash for the door. Harry and Ron each caught him by an arm and threw Lockhart behind them with all their might.

"You first." Ron pointed his wand at Lockhart's throat.

"Now really, boys." Lockhart swallowed hard. "Don't you think there's another way that…" Ron shoved Lockhart in the chest, causing him to loose his balance and fall backward into the chamber. Whatever he was going to say was lost as he fell and landed on something that made a horrible crunching noise.

"You next, Ron." Harry said. Ron closed his eyes and jumped. Harry turned to Trilla.

"You stay here. In case the basilisk gets out and tries to hurt someone else. You can speak Parseltounge and you're also an heir of Slytherin. It should listen to you." Trilla thought back to the raspy voice she heard and what Dumbledore told her. She knew what Harry wanted her to do.

"You want me to try and keep it out of the Chamber and away from where it could hurt anybody."

"That would be great, yeah." Harry said, smiling.

"Let's just hope that I have a stroke of genius between now and then." Trilla said laughing. Harry followed Ron into the Chamber of Secrets. She needed to buy Harry time.

* * *

**Only one or two more chapters to go. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who stuck with the story this far, especially everyone who reviewed.  
**


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